MEM-ENTO · Tracing memory formation in a behaving animal: analysis of learning-induced morpho-functional plasticity along the bee’s olfactory system
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-04-01 → 2022-03-31
- EU contribution
- €196,708
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
Tracing memory formation in a behaving animal: analysis of learning-induced morpho-functional plasticity along the bee’s olfactory system
With a relatively small brain, honeybees are capable of advanced cognitive abilities, providing a useful model to investigate the neural correlates of sensory coding and memory formation. Moreover, anatomical and functional knowledge of its olfactory circuit allows investigating how experience impacts on the coding of an olfactory cue along different stages of the olfactory pathway and different intervals from the conditioning procedure. The goal of this proposal was to perform high spatial and temporal resolution calcium imaging analysis within the same individuals to identify the neural correlates of short and long-term memory across the three main neuropils of the bee's olfactory system: the antennal lobe, the mushroom body, and the lateral horn. With this approach, I aimed to observe how the neural activity elicited by rewarded and unrewarded odorants is modified by associative learning in terms of response intensity, latency, and neural connectivity based on partial correlation analysis.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Memory formation and extinction are fascinating aspects of brain functions. Observation of ex vivo and in vitro experiments provided a framework for understanding associative memory-related plasticity. However, memories are generated via local neuronal interactions within the context of their global networks, and understanding their formation requires in vivo studies in naturalistic conditions, which remain technically challenging. Here, I will use a functional calcium imaging approach to investigate memory formation and extinction in behaving honeybees. I will adopt the honeybee as a model system because of the accumulated knowledge on associative learning, the availability of a behavioural read-out for both appetitive and aversive memory formation, and its robustness, which allows for long-lasting imaging experiments. I will focus on its olfactory system because of the optical accessibility, and its analogy with the vertebrate one. Previous works have established the methods for honeybee brain imaging analysis in vivo during appetitive and aversive conditioning. Within this project, I will perform long-term imaging experiments in behaving animals, while monitoring the process of short and long-term memory formation and extinction in the three main neuropils of the olfactory system: the antennal lobe (the primary odour processing centre), the mushroom bodies (possibly dedicated to odour recognition), and the lateral horn (involved in odour valence evaluation). My specific goals are (1) characterizing the morphological and functional changes induced by associative learning throughout these neuropils, (2) highlighting the functional dynamics of a stimulus representation during short and long-term memory formation and extinction, and (3) comparing the memory engram of positive and negative associations. This project will provide important insight on the neural correlates of memory formation and extinction in a behaving animal.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union