Popik P, van Ree J M
Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland.
Prog Brain Res. 1998;119:415-36. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)61585-x.
An encounter between rats results in bouts of social investigation consisting mainly of sniffing, nosing, following and grooming. The assessment of social recognition is based on the tendency of rodents to investigate unfamiliar conspecifics more intensely, than familiar ones. In the laboratory an immature conspecific is normally used as the social stimulus because the use of juveniles eliminates possible sexual and/or aggressive behaviors of the rat whose memory is assessed. When a juvenile is presented for the first time, it is intensely investigated. A second presentation shortly after the first one elicits less attention. This is not due to satiation or fatigue, since the presentation of a novel juvenile triggers the full sequence of investigation. Social recognition is defined as a specific decrease in social investigation during the second encounter of the same individual. This form of memory is short lasting (< 40 min) and based on the olfactory characteristics of the stimulus animal. Social memory is prolonged by repeated exposure to the stimulus juvenile rat and is impaired by retroactively interfering stimuli. It can be facilitated by vasopressin and derivatives as well as by several other memory facilitating compounds, and, depending on the dose, attenuated or facilitated by oxytocin and derivatives. Ethologically oriented memory tests, that are based on olfactory characteristics of the information to-be-remembered, have an advantage over 'classical' ones: they estimate behavioral patterns which are important to an animal and not only to the investigator. Social memory paradigms can reveal information about memory processes in animals that is relevant for memory deficits in humans.
大鼠之间的相遇会引发一系列社交探究行为，主要包括嗅探、用鼻触碰、跟随和梳理毛发。社交识别的评估基于啮齿动物对陌生同种个体比熟悉同种个体进行更强烈探究的倾向。在实验室中，通常使用未成年同种个体作为社交刺激物，因为使用幼鼠可以消除被评估记忆的大鼠可能出现的性行为和/或攻击行为。当首次呈现一只幼鼠时，它会受到强烈探究。在第一次呈现后不久再次呈现时，引起的关注就会减少。这并非由于满足或疲劳，因为呈现一只新的幼鼠会引发完整的探究序列。社交识别被定义为在同一只个体第二次相遇期间社交探究的特定减少。这种记忆形式持续时间较短（<40分钟），且基于刺激动物的嗅觉特征。通过反复接触刺激幼鼠，社交记忆会延长，而反向干扰刺激会损害社交记忆。血管加压素及其衍生物以及其他几种促进记忆的化合物可以促进社交记忆，并且根据剂量不同，催产素及其衍生物会减弱或促进社交记忆。基于待记忆信息的嗅觉特征的行为学导向记忆测试比“经典”测试具有优势：它们评估的行为模式对动物很重要，而不仅仅对研究者重要。社交记忆范式可以揭示与人类记忆缺陷相关的动物记忆过程的信息。
