Abstract
The hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin (HO) system holds a central role in the regulation of several physiological functions critical for food-seeking behavior including mnemonic processes for effective foraging behavior. It is unclear however whether physiological increases in HO neuronal activity can support such processes. Using a designer rM3Ds receptor activation approach increasing HO neuronal activity resulted in improved short-term memory for novel locations. When tested on a non-spatial novelty object recognition task no significant difference was detected between groups indicating that hypothalamic HO neuronal activation can selectively facilitate short-term spatial memory for potentially supporting memory for locations during active exploration.
Highlights
Foraging requires the coordination of higher-order neural systems that lead to a heightened sensory awareness, effective decision-making, and mnemonic functions for remembering objects and locations previously experienced
The ubiquitous projection pattern of hypothalamic HO neurons is suggestive of HO playing an influential role in the coordination of multiple brain regions linked to foraging behavior including ones important for mnemonic processing
Our results indicate that global increases in HO activity improve performance in delayed spontaneous alternations when short-term memory is taxed with a 5 min delay between encoding and retrieval and further implicates the HO system in supporting memory functions during active exploration
Summary
Foraging requires the coordination of higher-order neural systems that lead to a heightened sensory awareness, effective decision-making, and mnemonic functions for remembering objects and locations previously experienced. The engagement of these circuits must be derived from primary brain circuits that respond to energy deficiencies for increasing arousal for engaging food seeking behavior and achieving energy homeostasis. Electrophysiology studies have revealed that HO neurons can functionally excite and inhibit neurons independent of HO release/receptor activation (Apergis-Schoute et al, 2015; Schöne, Apergis-Schoute, Sakurai, Adamantidis, & Burdakov, 2014) Despite these studies linking HO receptor activation to mnemonic functions it is unclear whether physiological increases in HO activity alone can support such processes
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