Monosynaptic activation of the hippocampus as a conditioned stimulus: behavioral effects

The aim of the present study with rats was to show that electrical stimulation of a monosynaptic pathway, whose high plastic potency is well-known, can serve as a conditioned stimulus (CS) in a learning paradigm. Using chronic rats, stimulation of the perforant pathway, which activates the entorhinal cortex input to the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, was used as the CS in a footshock motivated two-way avoidance task (shuttle box). Among the different stimulation parameters tested, only trains of at least 15 Hz were shown to be effective as a CS, whereas the application of single impulses with a frequency of 1,7 Hz did not result in the establishment of conditioned behavior. Using the 15 Hz-paradigm, in "good learners," the development of reliable conditioned responses started at the end of the first training session (40 trials) and become fairly stable during a further training session, given on the following day. The application of stimulation trains with 100 Hz as a CS led to the development of a high rate of conditioned responses, however, there was also a high level of intertrial reactions. Considering the critical importance of the frequency parameters of the perforant pathway stimulation for the development of conditioned behavior the possible involvement of hippocampal long-term potentiation in behavioral plasticity is discussed. Additionally, it is concluded that this new learning paradigm offers the advantage of concurrent analysis of plastic processes both at the behavioral level and at the level of the synaptic population.