TY - JOUR
T1 - An automated learning apparatus for classical conditioning of Lymnaea stagnalis
AU - Takigami, Satoshi
AU - Sunada, Hiroshi
AU - Lukowiak, Ken
AU - Ito, Etsuro
AU - Sakakibara, Manabu
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by KAKENHI from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [No. 26506022 ] and a grant from Canadian Institutes of Health Research [No. MOP 64339 to K.L.].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Background: The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis is capable of taste avoidance classical conditioning (TAC) with sucrose as the conditional stimulus (CS) and mechanical prodding as the unconditional stimulus (US). After successful training, feeding behavior is significantly suppressed in response to CS presentation. New method: An automated apparatus is described for the training of multiple snails up to 10 snails at the same time. The new apparatus employs an electrical shock obtained from a 9-V dry cell to deliver a consistent and effective current amplitude of 0.4 μA (i.e., the US). Results: Using this apparatus, 10 snails can be conditioned simultaneously. We found that the optimal parameters to result in both short (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) were 15 paired presentations of the CS and US with a 5-min inter-trial interval (ITI) and 0.2-s current duration. However, both STM and LTM were observed with other ITIs tested. Successful TAC with only a single pairing of the CS-US occurred with a CS of 100 mM sucrose solution for 60 s followed by a US of 9 V with 0.4 μA for 5 s. Comparison with existing method: The use of automated training apparatus for TAC will enable us to better examine the relationship between strength of CS and US.
AB - Background: The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis is capable of taste avoidance classical conditioning (TAC) with sucrose as the conditional stimulus (CS) and mechanical prodding as the unconditional stimulus (US). After successful training, feeding behavior is significantly suppressed in response to CS presentation. New method: An automated apparatus is described for the training of multiple snails up to 10 snails at the same time. The new apparatus employs an electrical shock obtained from a 9-V dry cell to deliver a consistent and effective current amplitude of 0.4 μA (i.e., the US). Results: Using this apparatus, 10 snails can be conditioned simultaneously. We found that the optimal parameters to result in both short (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) were 15 paired presentations of the CS and US with a 5-min inter-trial interval (ITI) and 0.2-s current duration. However, both STM and LTM were observed with other ITIs tested. Successful TAC with only a single pairing of the CS-US occurred with a CS of 100 mM sucrose solution for 60 s followed by a US of 9 V with 0.4 μA for 5 s. Comparison with existing method: The use of automated training apparatus for TAC will enable us to better examine the relationship between strength of CS and US.
KW - Control of temporal sequence
KW - Inter-trial interval
KW - Long-term memory
KW - One-trial conditioning
KW - Paired presentation of conditional and unconditional stimuli
KW - Short-term memory
KW - Stimulus duration
KW - Temporal stimulus parameters
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954175745&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84954175745&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.10.008
DO - 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.10.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 26617319
AN - SCOPUS:84954175745
SN - 0165-0270
VL - 259
SP - 115
EP - 121
JO - Journal of Neuroscience Methods
JF - Journal of Neuroscience Methods
ER -