Enhanced synaptic responses in the piriform cortex associated with sexual stimulation in the male rat.

Male rats that copulate to ejaculation with female rats bearing an odor show a learned preference to ejaculate selectively with females that bear the odor. This conditioned ejaculatory preference reflects an association between the odor and the reward state induced by ejaculation. Although little is known about the neuronal mechanisms that mediate this form of learning, convergence of genitosensory and olfactory inputs occurs in both hypothalamic and cortical regions, notably within primary olfactory (piriform) cortex, which may be involved in the encoding or storage of the association. The present study contrasted the ability of genital investigations, mounts, intromissions, ejaculations, and a sexually conditioned olfactory stimulus, to enhance evoked synaptic field potentials in the piriform cortex. Rats in the Paired group underwent conditioning trials in which they copulated with sexually receptive females bearing an almond odor. Rats in the Unpaired control group copulated with receptive females bearing no odor. Responses in the piriform cortex evoked by electrical stimulation of the olfactory bulb were recorded in male rats as they engaged in different aspects of sexual behavior, and were also recorded after conditioning, during exposure to cotton swabs bearing the almond odor. The monosynaptic component of responses was increased during intromission and ejaculation, and the late component of responses was increased during anogenital sniffing and mounting (with or without intromission). However, no differences in the amplitudes of evoked responses were found between the Paired and Unpaired groups, and no differences in synaptic responses were found during presentation of the odor after conditioning. These data indicate that short-term alterations in synaptic responsiveness occur in piriform cortex as a function of sexual stimulation in the male rat, but that responses are not significantly altered by a conditioned odor.

Restricted access to food, but not sucrose, saccharine, or salt, synchronizes the expression of Period2 protein in the limbic forebrain.

Restricted feeding schedules (RF) in which daily access to food is limited to a few hours each day can entrain the rhythms of expression of circadian clock genes in the brain and periphery in rodents. The critical factors mediating the effect of RF on rhythms of clock gene expression are unknown. Previously, we demonstrated that daytime RF shifts the phase of expression of the clock protein, Period2 (PER2) in the oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in rats kept on a 12-h light/dark cycle, and restored the rhythm of PER2 expression in rats housed in constant light. We now report that RF also modifies the rhythms of PER2 expression in the central and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala and in the dentate gyrus, such that all three areas become synchronized, peaking 12 h after the time of food presentation. Daily limited access to sucrose or saccharine in freely fed rats or scheduled access to saline in sodium-deprived rats had no effect on these PER2 rhythms. Thus, it would appear that the rhythms of PER2 in limbic forebrain structures are sensitive to signals that arise from the alleviation of a negative metabolic state associated with scheduled feeding and that access to rewarding substances in the absence of food deprivation or metabolic challenges, per se, is not sufficient to alter the rhythms of PER2 expression in these regions.

Induction of long-term potentiation leads to increased reliability of evoked neocortical spindles in vivo.

Large amplitude electroencephalographic spindle waves (7-14 Hz) occur spontaneously in the neocortex during both sleep and awake immobility, and it has been proposed that synchronous neuronal activation during spindles may contribute to learning-related synaptic plasticity. Spindles can also be evoked in the sensorimotor cortex by electrical stimulation of cortical or thalamic inputs in the rat. To determine if strengthening cortical synapses can affect the initiation and maintenance of electrically evoked spindles, stimulation pulses were delivered at a range of intensities to the corpus callosum or ventrolateral thalamus in the awake rat before and after the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) by tetanization of the corpus callosum. The morphology of evoked spindles was similar to that of naturally occurring spindles. Spindles were evoked less reliably during slow-wave sleep than during waking, and this was correlated with smaller synaptic responses during slow-wave sleep. Similar to previous findings, daily tetanization of the corpus callosum for 15 days decreased the early component and increased the late component of synaptic responses evoked by corpus callosum stimulation, but did not significantly affect synaptic responses evoked by thalamic stimulation. Similarly, LTP induction increased the reliability with which low-intensity corpus callosum stimulation evoked spindles, but increases in spindles evoked by thalamic stimulation were not significant. Synaptic potentiation and the increased reliability of spindles developed with a similar time-course over the 15-day LTP induction period. These results reflect strong correlations between the strength of cortical layer V activation and the initiation of spindles in the sensorimotor cortex, and support the idea that monosynaptic and polysynaptic horizontal collaterals of layer V neurons can play a significant role in the initiation of spindles.