Theanine boosts frontal theta and hippocampal beta and gamma oscillations for familiarity in object recognition

Object recognition memory encourages animals to distinguish between new and known objects, supported by neural activity in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and perirhinal cortex. Theanine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid derivative from green tea leaves, enhances object recognition memory in rats through facilitated neurogenesis. Although the cellular mechanism for the theanine-enhanced object recognition memory has been elucidated to some extent, physiological evidence still remains unclear. To tackle this issue, we chronically fed mice with theanine (or tap water) for three weeks, implanted electrodes into the hippocampus and frontal cortex, both of which are responsible for object recognition memory. We then recorded the local field potentials from the two regions during the novel object recognition task, evaluated the memory performance, and broke down the neural signals in the hippocampus and frontal cortex into delta, theta, beta, low gamma, and high gamma frequency bands. The memory performance of theanine-treated mice was higher than that of vehicle-treated mice. We also found that theta oscillations in the frontal cortex and beta and low gamma oscillations in the hippocampus in theanine-treated mice were simultaneously enhanced for familiar objects. These results shed light on the new physiological underpinnings of object recognition memory enhanced by exogenous substances.