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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

Aversive Associative Learning and Memory Formation by Pairing Two Chemicals in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: June 23, 2022
Changes in neuronal excitability serve as a mechanism of long-term memory for operant conditioning
Riccardo Mozzachiodi1, Fred D Lorenzetti, Douglas A Baxter
1Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, W.M. Keck Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 6431 Fannin Street, Suite MSB 7.046, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Abstract:
Learning can lead to changes in the intrinsic excitability of neurons. However, the extent to which these changes persist and the role they have in the expression of memory remain unclear. We found that in vitro analogs of operant conditioning produced a long-term (24 h) increase in the excitability of an identified neuron (B51) that is critical for the expression of feeding in Aplysia. This increase in excitability, which was cAMP dependent, contributed to the associative modification of the feeding circuitry, providing a mechanism for long-term memory.
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