蜜蜂对复合气味中特征因素的选择性记忆巩固的研究

目的 蜜蜂天生具有丰富的嗅觉辨识能力，觅食、交配、导航以及社交活动均依赖其嗅觉系统，是研究嗅觉感知和学习记忆的行为及神经机制的理想模型。蜜蜂既能够将某个复合气味作为一个整体也可以将复合气味的各组成成分进行辨别和区分，但是在特征依赖的联合记忆中依据何种原则进行加工并存储到长期记忆还不清楚。方法 本文利用特征阳性（feature positive：AB+，B-）和特征阴性（feature negative：AB-，B+）的奖赏性嗅觉条件化，训练蜜蜂对复合气味和成分气味的辨别，并检测蜜蜂对复合气味（AB）、成分气味（B）以及特征气味（A）的中长时记忆（3 h）和长时记忆（24 h）。结果 在特征阳性的奖赏性嗅觉条件化中，蜜蜂对训练过的气味可以形成稳定的中长时和长时记忆，并且对复合气味中的特征气味的记忆与复合气味的记忆呈现高度相似。但在特征阴性的奖赏性嗅觉条件化中，蜜蜂虽能够在3 h和24 h对训练过的两种气味具有显著的伸喙反应差异，且对特征阴性的气味无显著反应，但对复合气味的反应随时间的推移而增加。结论 实验结果表明，蜜蜂选择性地将与奖赏信息联合出现的气味巩固到长时记忆中，但并未依据特征成分加工储存到长时记忆中。奖赏信息预示着食物源，与生存息息相关，表明对环境信息进行选择性的记忆巩固加工并储存可能是低等动物高效地编码生存相关信息的重要策略。

Selective Memory Consolidation of The Binary Compound in Feature Discrimination Tasks in Apis mellifera

Objective Bees are born with rich olfactory recognition capabilities. Foraging, mating, navigation and social activities all rely on their olfactory system. It is an ideal model for studying behaviors and neural mechanisms of olfactory perception, learning and memory. Bees can distinguish a compound odor as a configural character, and can distinguish the components individually as well, but yet it is not clear whether the feature component of a compound odor is stored into the memory as a key cue in a feature-dependent context.Methods In the feature-positive (FP: AB+, B-) and feature-negative (FN: AB-, B+) olfactory discrimination tasks, we train bees to learn to associate an odor and a sugar reward. During the mid-term memory (3 h) and long-term memory (24 h) tests, response to the trained odors AB and B, and the feature odor A were tested.Results We found that in the FP task, bees can form stable mid-term and long-term memories of the trained odors. The memory of the feature odor was well stored as the rewarded compound. In the FN task, bees were able to distinguish the two trained odors, but their response to the unrewarded compound increased with the passage of time.Conclusion Our results suggest that bees selectively consolidate the reward associated information into long-term memory no matter it is the compound or the components. Interestingly, the feature component is not the key factor to be consolidated into the memory system. Our study indicates that selective memory consolidation is supposed to be an important strategy for simple animals to efficiently encode survival-related information.