NEURAL CELL-ADHESION MOLECULES PLAY A ROLE IN RAT MEMORY FORMATION INAPPETITIVE AS WELL AS AVERSIVE TASKS

A polyclonal antibody (R1), raised against chick synaptic membrane gly coproteins and recognizing the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) ca used amnesia for avoidance tasks when injected into day-old chicks and adult rats 5.5 h post-training. We investigated the effects of R1 ant ibody on memory formation in a non-aversive task, where stress is mini mal: a massed trial odour discrimination task in rats. Preimmune serum or R1 antibody was injected i.c.v. 5.5 h after the last training sess ion. Forty-eight hours after the training session, control rats showed very good retention whereas R1 antibody injection significantly disru pted retention, The results suggest that glycoproteins recognized by R 1 in the rat play a specific role in memory formation for appetitive e vents as well as in memory formation for aversive situations.