Hippocampal c-fos is necessary for long-term memory of a socially transmitted food preference

The present article examined the requirement of hippocampal c-Fos for learning a socially transmitted food preference (STFP). We reported previously that expression of the c-Fos protein is increased in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus of rats trained on the STFP (Countryman, Orlowski, Brightwell, Oskowitz, & Colombo, 2005). Pretraining intrahippocampal antisense to the immediate early gene c-fos was administered to adult male Long-Evans rats to determine if c-fos expression is necessary for either short- or long-term memory for STFP. Guide cannulae were implanted bilaterally into the dorsal hippocampus. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were administered unilaterally either 6.5, 8.5, 10.5, or 12.5 h prior to STFP training while either sense ODNs or saline were infused into the opposite hemisphere. Immunocytochemistry was performed, and cells showing c-Fos immunoreactivity (ir) were counted from the antisense-treated hemisphere and compared to cell counts from the control hemisphere. The results indicated significant suppression of learning-induced c-Fos protein at the 8.5 and 10.5 infusion-train intervals. Additional rats were implanted with cannulae into the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, and antisense ODNs, sense ODNs, or saline were administered bilaterally 8.5h prior to training. Rats were tested immediately and 14 days after training. Rats in all groups showed a significant preference for the demonstrated food at the short-term memory test. At the long-term memory test, however, rats infused with c-fos antisense showed no preference for the demonstrated food whereas rats infused with either sense or saline maintained their preference. The present findings suggest that c-fos is necessary for consolidation of non-spatial hippocampal-dependent memory.