Snail project

[alexsaunders1991]

Hey Guys,

I am carrying out a project on memory in achatina fulica on food odours and was wondering if anyone has any articles/ journals/ any other reference material to share, which maybe useful to include in the write up, but can't be forum references as it is for university,

Many thanks,

Alex

[ness]

Interesting.
Does it have to be for Achatina?
My megalobulimus often goes to the same corner of the tank as I often slip a tasty strip of carrot and sweet potato there. It is as if it is remembering that food is reglularly found there. However it could be that the smell of carrot and sweet potato strips remain on the glass.
I do remember reading that scientists have discovered that snails exhibit some memory and even a homing instinct of sorts, but I doubt that I would be able to find those articles for you.
Perhaps someone would be willing to conduct an experiment where they place food fregularly in one particular part of the tank, on a dish so as not to taint the soil with food smell, and then after a week remove the dish and with-hold food for part of the night and wait to see of the snails crawl to where the food should normally be?
Would this be the kind of study that would help you?

[alexsaunders1991]

Hey ness,

To be honest it can be for any species due to the lack of literature (compared to other animal species). That experiment could help. My project is feeding 2 groups of achatina fulica different food (1 with g. peppers and the other carrot) for a set period of time and then placing each group in a T-shaped maze with carrot and pepper at either end and see if each group or the majority of the group would go to the food source they have been fed. I have heard about the snails homing abilities and will try to merge this into the write up

[wolf]

Hi Alex,
if you deal with memory in snails you should mention some papers of Eric Kandel, who worked on reflexes and learning/memory in Aplysia, a marine snail (Nobel prize some years ago .
Kind regards: wolf

[alexsaunders1991]

Thanks wolf. I will look him up and his publications

[foghog]

theres a lot of material out there actually. someone of interest to you may be:
David Glanzman
email: [e-mail]
phone: [phone]
office: 2506C Gonda (Goldschmied) Center
research interests: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory

some interesting articles/videos/etc: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/aplysia-memory.html
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/aplysia-memory.html (scroll down to his spot on habituation)

publications of possible interest:
Cai, D., Pearce, K., Chen, S. and Glanzman, D. L., "Protein kinase m maintains long-term sensitization and long-term facilitation in Aplysia", J. Neurosci, 31 (17): 6421-6431 (2011) www.jneurosci.org/content/31/17/6421.long

Esdin, Pearce, K. and Glanzman, D. L., "Long-term habituation of the gill-withdrawal reflex in Aplysia requires gene transcription, calcineurin and L-type voltage-gated calcium channels", Frontiers Behav. Neurosci, (2010) www.frontiersin.org/behavioral_neuroscience/10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00181/full

Glanzman, D. L., "Common mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in vertebrates and invertebrates", Curr. Biol, 20 : R31-R36 (2010) www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982209018429

Glanzman, D.L., "Ion pumps get more glamorous", Nat. Neurosci, 13 : 4-5 (2010) www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v13/n1/full/nn0110-4.html

Villareal, G. V., Li, Q., Cai, D., Fink, A. E., Lim, T., Bougie, J. K., Sossin, W. S., and Glanzman, D. L., "Role of protein kinase C in the induction and maintenance of serotonin-dependent enhancement of the glutamate response in isolated siphon motor neurons of Aplysia californica", J. Neurosci, 29 (16): 5100-5107 (2009) www.jneurosci.org/content/29/16/5100.full

Cai, D., Chen, S. & Glanzman, D.L., "Postsynaptic regulation of long-term facilitation in Aplysia", Curr Biol, 18 : 920-925 (2008) www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982208006763

Glanzman, D.L., "Simple minds: the neurobiology of invertebrate learning and memory", In: Invertebrate Neurobiology, G. North & R.J. Greenspan(Eds.), 347-380 (2007)

[wolf]

Hi foghod,
thanks a lot for this splendid list of papers. Some of the latest papers I wasn´t aware of. Great !
By the way, for all who just want to get a vague idea of this topic a movie (dvd) could be of some interest: "In Search of Memory" by Petra Seeger.
Kind regards: wolf

[alexsaunders1991]

wow thanks foghog! thats a great help. i will have a look at the video wolf, just to get more info it might have something I could reference or just have a general watch