NMDA receptor and the tyrosine phosphorylation of its 2B subunit in taste learning in the rat insular cortex

Kobi Rosenblum, Diego E. Berman, Shoshi Hazvi, Raphael Lamprecht, Yadin Dudai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We demonstrate that the NMDA receptor is involved in taste learning in the insular cortex of the behaving rat and describe two facets of this involvement. Blockage of the NMDA receptor in the insular cortex by the reversible antagonist APV during training in a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm impaired CTA memory, whereas blockage of the NMDA receptor in an adjacent cortex or before a retrieval test had no effect. When rats sampled an unfamiliar taste and hence learned about it, either incidentally or in the context of CTA training, the tyrosine phosphorylation of the NMDA receptor subunit 2B (NR2B) in the insular cortex was specifically increased. The level of tyrosine phosphorylation on NR2B was a function of the novelty of the taste stimulus and the quantity of the taste substance consumed, properties that also determined the efficacy of the taste stimulus as a conditioned stimulus in CTA; however, blockage of the NMDA receptor by APV during training did not prevent tyrosine phosphorylation of NR2B. We suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of NR2B subserves encoding of saliency in the insular cortex during the first hours after an unfamiliar taste is sampled and that this encoding is independent of another, necessary role of NMDA receptors in triggering experience-dependent modifications in the insular cortex during taste learning. Because a substantial fraction of the NR2B protein in the insular cortex seems to be expressed in interneurons, saliency and the tyrosine phosphorylation of NR2B correlated with it may modulate inhibition in cortex.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5129-5135
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Neuroscience
Volume17
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Conditioned taste aversion
  • Insular cortex
  • Latent inhibition
  • NMDA receptor subunit 2B
  • Taste learning
  • Tyrosine phosphorylation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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