Memory of occasional events in rats: individual episodic memory profiles, flexibility, and neural substrate
Open accessAbstract
In search for the mechanisms underlying complex forms of human memory, such as episodic recollection, a primary challenge is to develop adequate animal models amenable to neurobiological investigation. Here, we proposed a novel framework and paradigm that provides means to quantitatively evaluate the ability of rats to form and recollect a combined knowledge of what happened, where it happened, and when or in which context it happened (referred to as episodic-like memory) after a few specific episodes in situations as close as possible to a paradigm we recently developed to study episodic memory in humans. In this task, rats have to remember two odor-drink associations (what happened) encountered in distinct locations (where it happened) within two different multisensory enriched environments (in which context/occasion it happened), each characterized by a particular combination of odors and places. By analyzing licking behavior on each drinking port, we characterized quantitatively individual recollection profiles and showed that rats are able to incidentally form and recollect an accurate, long-term integrated episodic-like memory that can last ≥ 24 d after limited exposure to the episodes. Placing rats in a contextually challenging recollection situation at recall reveals the ability for flexible use of episodic memory as described in humans. We further report that reversible inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus during recall disrupts the animal's capacity to recollect the complete episodic memory. Cellular imaging of c-Fos and Zif268 brain activation reveals that episodic memory recollection recruits a specific, distributed network of hippocampal-prefrontal cortex structures that correlates with the accuracy of the integrated recollection performance.
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The dorsal hippocampus was functionally recruited 1 month after learning but disengaged 5 months later, while the medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex remained interconnected with the accessory and main olfactory bulb.
“while the dorsal hippocampus was still functionally recruited 1 month after learning, consistent with previous studies [60,70], it was functionally disengaged 5 months later, while the typical cluster of long-term memory, involving the medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, was still interconnected along with the accessory and main OB.”
From Positive early-life olfactory memory is rooted in the olfactory bulb and triggers large-scale changes beyond the olfactory system (2026) · cites this paper as [70]
The section on recruitment of selective brain areas reports activation of the dorsal hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex during episodic-like memory retrieval. The paper also reports behavioral recall 24 days after training, but it does not establish hippocampal recruitment at that interval, disengagement at five months, or continuing connections with the accessory and main olfactory bulbs. No page numbers were available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMore c-fos and zif-268 positive cells were found in hippocampal CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus after retrieval in an episodic-like memory task.
“more c-fos and zif-268 positive-cells were found in the hippocampal CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus after the retrieval”
From The medial prefrontal cortex - hippocampus circuit that integrates information of object, place and time to construct episodic memory in rodents: Behavioral, anatomical and neurochemical properties (2020) · cites this paper as Veyrac et al., 2015
Intra-hippocampus infusion of muscimol disrupted episodic-like memory measured by licking behavior.
“Intra-hippocampus infusion of muscimol disrupted episodic-like memory, measured by licking behavior”
From The medial prefrontal cortex - hippocampus circuit that integrates information of object, place and time to construct episodic memory in rodents: Behavioral, anatomical and neurochemical properties (2020) · cites this paper as Veyrac et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Veyrac, A., Allerborn, M., Gros, A., Michon, F., Raguet, L., Kenney, J., Godinot, F., Thevenet, M., Garcia, S., Messaoudi, B., Laroche, S., & Ravel, N.
- Affiliations
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Université Paris-Sud (FR)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2015-05-13
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 19
- Pages
- 7575-7586
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6705429
- OpenAlex
- W1505381353
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 2.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-11-IDEX-0007, ANR-11-IDEX, ANR-11-LABX-0042, ANR-10-BLAN-1413, 11 IDEX - 0007)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- episodic-like memory, episodic memory, recollection, rats, dorsal hippocampus, c-fos, Zif268, memory flexibility
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Association Learning, Brain Mapping, Drinking Behavior, Hippocampus, Male, Memory, Muscimol, Odorants, Water Deprivation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos, Statistics, Nonparametric, Rats, Long-Evans, Rats, Early Growth Response Protein 1, GABA-A Receptor Agonists
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