THE LOCUS-COERULEUS, NOREPINEPHRINE, AND MEMORY IN NEWBORNS

Use of learned odor cues by newborn rats is critical for pup survival. Rat pups acquire approach responses to maternal odors through an asso ciative conditioning mechanism. This learned behavioral response is ac companied by a modification of olfactory bulb neural response patterns to the learned odor. Both the behavioral and neural reponse changes i nvolved and require norepinephrine release in the olfactory bulb. The source of this norepinephrine is the locus coeruleus. It is proposed t hat the unique response properties of the locus coeruleus during the e arly postnatal period in the rat may facilitate acquisition of these c ritical early memories.