In this paper, the experimenters were looking to assess and understand the place memory mechanism present in the Drosophila. To do this, they used the operant conditioning paradigm, in a heat box. Previous research has found that the Rutabaga type 1 adenyl cyclase, latheo Orc 3, small GTPase and the Dopamine Ecdysone receptor (DopEcR) are important in the retention of memory. Ostrowski et al. (2015) wanted to find the exact function and time of action for each of these elements in place memory retention. Additionally, they looked to find what the optimal temperature for conditioning place memory for the longest time in the flies and they used intermittent time intervals to see if they produced better results relative to massed trials.
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There were 2 different groups of Drosophila, the wild type and the groups that had the knock out for each of the memory related genes. During the test phase, one half of the chamber demarcated the higher temperature and when the fly entered this area, it gradually increased the temperature of the whole box. Moving to the other part of the chamber brought the temperature back down to 24˚C. The performance index (PI) measured the place memory preference as this assessed the difference in time spent in the ‘heated’ zone relative to the time spent in the ‘comfortable’ zone. The temperatures used for conditioning were 33˚C, 37˚C and 41˚C for different time periods (4,10,15 and 20 minutes). Sometimes, the experimenters used intermittent trials between the listed times. A second experiment to test the importance of the different genes used olfactory conditioning. First they paired the MCH or OCT with a shock and then the flies were placed in a T-maze. Here, they were made to choose between two different odors. The performance index was then …show more content…
Similarly, higher temperatures and longer training times elicited stronger place preference memory (and higher PI levels). However there was a maximum limit to the place memory preference seen. A higher temperature and longer training times after this point did not result in a higher PI. Memory that was conditioned at 37˚C was very short lived, and this was independent of the training time. Memory that was obtained when conditioned at 41˚C for 4 minutes, induced place memory for at least an hour, showing that higher temperatures, produced more stable memories. When comparing the intermittent and the massed testing trials, there was no significant difference seen between the PI values immediately after training. However, intermittent training allowed for longer lasting memory, in this case it allowed for memory lasting up to three hours. The absences of the rut, lat and pst genes were correlated with a reduction in place memory retention in the T maze experiment. Further, the absence of pst genes also showed a significant reduction in memory when the flies were tested 60 minutes post training. The lack of the DopEcR did not seem to affect the short term or long term place preference memory of the drosophila, relative to the wildtype. The lack of the Rac small G protein was associated with a higher memory in the olfactory learning experiment. For example, after 60
There were 2 different groups of Drosophila, the wild type and the groups that had the knock out for each of the memory related genes. During the test phase, one half of the chamber demarcated the higher temperature and when the fly entered this area, it gradually increased the temperature of the whole box. Moving to the other part of the chamber brought the temperature back down to 24˚C. The performance index (PI) measured the place memory preference as this assessed the difference in time spent in the ‘heated’ zone relative to the time spent in the ‘comfortable’ zone. The temperatures used for conditioning were 33˚C, 37˚C and 41˚C for different time periods (4,10,15 and 20 minutes). Sometimes, the experimenters used intermittent trials between the listed times. A second experiment to test the importance of the different genes used olfactory conditioning. First they paired the MCH or OCT with a shock and then the flies were placed in a T-maze. Here, they were made to choose between two different odors. The performance index was then …show more content…
Similarly, higher temperatures and longer training times elicited stronger place preference memory (and higher PI levels). However there was a maximum limit to the place memory preference seen. A higher temperature and longer training times after this point did not result in a higher PI. Memory that was conditioned at 37˚C was very short lived, and this was independent of the training time. Memory that was obtained when conditioned at 41˚C for 4 minutes, induced place memory for at least an hour, showing that higher temperatures, produced more stable memories. When comparing the intermittent and the massed testing trials, there was no significant difference seen between the PI values immediately after training. However, intermittent training allowed for longer lasting memory, in this case it allowed for memory lasting up to three hours. The absences of the rut, lat and pst genes were correlated with a reduction in place memory retention in the T maze experiment. Further, the absence of pst genes also showed a significant reduction in memory when the flies were tested 60 minutes post training. The lack of the DopEcR did not seem to affect the short term or long term place preference memory of the drosophila, relative to the wildtype. The lack of the Rac small G protein was associated with a higher memory in the olfactory learning experiment. For example, after 60