Investigating the interactions between multiple memory stores in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis.

Abstract

The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis exhibits various forms of associative learning including (1) operant conditioning of aerial respiration where snails are trained not to open their pneumostome in a hypoxic pond water environment using a weak tactile stimulus to their pneumostome as they attempt to open it; and (2) a 24 h-lasting taste-specific learned avoidance known as the Garcia effect utilizing a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection just after snails eat a novel food substance (carrot). Typically, lab-inbred snails require two 0.5 h training sessions to form long-term memory (LTM) for operant conditioning of aerial respiration. However, some stressors (e.g., heat shock or predator scent) act as memory enhancers and thus a single 0.5 h training session is sufficient to enhance LTM formation lasting at least 24 h. Here, we found that snails forming a food-aversion LTM following Garcia-effect training exhibited enhanced LTM following operant condition of aerial respiration if trained in the presence of the food substance (carrot) they became averse to. Control experiments led us to conclude that carrot becomes a 'sickness' risk signal and acts as a stressor, sufficient to enhance LTM formation for another conditioning procedure.