SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN OLFACTORY MEMORY FORMATION IN FEMALE MICE

FEMALE mice develop a long-lasting olfactory recognition memory of a p artner male at the first relay in the vomeronasal system. In this stud y the synaptic plasticity relevant to this phenomenon was examined at reciprocal dendrodendritic synapses in the accessory olfactory bulb of female mice by electron microscopy. The size of asymmetrical excitato ry synapses (mitral/tufted to granule cells) of the reciprocal synapse s was significantly larger in the group of female mice which were subj ected to a treatment intended to induce olfactory memory formation tha n in the control group. It is suggested that olfactory memory formatio n is associated with a conformational change at the level of synaptic structure of the accessory olfactory bulb.