Transcriptional analysis of a whole-body form of long-term habituation in Aplysia californica.

ABSTRACT: Habituation is the simplest form of learning, but we know little about the transcriptional mechanisms that encode long-term habituation memory. A key obstacle is that habituation is relatively stimulus-specific and is thus encoded in small sets of neurons, providing poor signal/noise ratios for transcriptional analysis. To overcome this obstacle, we have developed a protocol for producing whole-body long-term habituation of the siphon-withdrawal reflex (SWR) of Aplysia californica. Specifically, we constructed a computer-controlled brushing apparatus to apply low-intensity tactile stimulation over the entire dorsal surface of Aplysia at regular intervals. We found that 3 d of training (10 rounds of stimulation/day; each round = 15 min brushing at a 10-sec ISI; 15-min rest between rounds) p

SUBMITTER: Holmes G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4274328 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature