Abstract
Split-brain experiments, which have been actively conducted since the twentieth century, have provided a great deal of insight into functional asymmetry and inter-hemispheric interactions. However, how communication between the left and right hemispheres directly contributes to memory formation is still poorly understood. To address this issue, we cut the rat commissural fibers prior to performing behavioral tests, which consisted of two short-term and two long-term memory tasks. The result showed that cutting the commissural fibers impairs short-term memory but not long-term memory. This suggests that the left-right hemispheric interaction through the commissural fibers contributes to the appropriate formation of short-term memory, but not that of long-term memory. Our findings would help to elucidate dynamic memory formation between the two hemispheres and contribute to the development of therapeutics for some neurological diseases which cause a reduction in the inter-hemispheric interaction.
Highlights
The so-called “split-brain” experiment, which mainly involves cutting the Corpus Callosum (CC) connecting the left and right hemisphere, has been actively conducted since the 1950s [1], starting with the interocular transfer experiment by Roger Sperry [2]
The aim of this study was to investigate how the interaction between the left and right hemisphere contributes to the formation of short-term and long-term memories
Thanks to the use of a very thin blade during the cutting operation, the histological results showed that the commissural fibers were cut accurately and that other areas, such as the cortex, were not damaged
Summary
The so-called “split-brain” experiment, which mainly involves cutting the Corpus Callosum (CC) connecting the left and right hemisphere, has been actively conducted since the 1950s [1], starting with the interocular transfer experiment by Roger Sperry [2]. Many behavioral and neurological studies [4,5,6,7,8] have suggested the existence of left/right hemispheric differences in various animal species, including rodents [9,10,11,12,13,14] In these studies, one of the brain regions that has been investigated is the hippocampus, and so far, differences in the gene [10,15], molecular composition [16], and morphology [17,18] between the left and right rodent hippocampi have been revealed. Our previous study [13] and the study by Jordan et al [9] confirmed differences in environment-dependent neural activity between the left and right hippocampal structures (for a detailed review of other left-right differences in the hippocampus, see [20]) These findings indicate that there are some differences in the functions of the left and right hippocampi. It is still unclear whether the left and right hemisphere, including the functionally lateralized hippocampus, interact with each other to form memories
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