Uptake of 3H-uridine into brain and incorporation into brain RNA of rats exposed to various training tasks - a biochemical analysis

Distribution of 3H-uridine-5 in rat brain areas after exposure to various training tasks - an autoradiographic analysis

Operant schedules were used to isolate components of a training task and the distribution of radioactivity into various brain areas was studied using high resolution autoradiography. Rats exposed to a visual stimulus change showed more labelling in hippocampal area CA1 than littermates exposed to no stimulus change. Rats exposed to a non-cued contingency change showed higher labelling in hippocampal areas CA2 and CA4 than littermates exposed to a cued contingency change. The results suggest that hippocampal changes in RNA synthesis may be related more to the aversive conditions of the training task than to specific learning changes.

Distribution of 3H-uridine-5 into brain RNA species of rats exposed to various training tasks - an electrophoretic analysis

Operant schedules were used to isolate component parts of a training task and specific activities were determine for nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA species separated by polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. Rats exposed to a stimulus or schedule change incorporated more radioactivity into nuclear rRNA and mRNA and cytoplasmic rRNA and tRNA than littermates exposed to no change from baseline training. Rats developing a change in response probability to a stimulus in the environment incorporated more radioactivity into cytoplasmic mRNA.