Sahley C L, Barry S R, Gelperin A
J Neurobiol. 1986 Mar;17(2):113-20. doi: 10.1002/neu.480170206.
Previous clinical and experimental work has shown that increased dietary intake of choline elevates blood choline and brain acetylcholine levels. This change in neuronal acetylcholine concentration may augment learning and memory functions. We tested this prediction using the mollusc Limax maximus, an animal which can be readily conditioned to avoid food odors. In our experiments, initial learning of a food avoidance task was not augmented by the high choline diet. However, the duration of memory retention was prolonged. In previous studies, we have shown that intake of the choline enriched diet significantly increases blood choline and amplifies transmission at an identified cholinergic synapse in Limax. Together, these results support the involvement of cholinergic synapses in the memory retention mechanism.
以往的临床和实验研究表明，增加胆碱的饮食摄入量可提高血液胆碱水平和大脑乙酰胆碱水平。神经元乙酰胆碱浓度的这种变化可能会增强学习和记忆功能。我们使用蛞蝓（Limax maximus）对这一预测进行了测试，蛞蝓是一种很容易被训练以避开食物气味的动物。在我们的实验中，高胆碱饮食并没有增强对食物回避任务的初始学习能力。然而，记忆保留的持续时间延长了。在之前的研究中，我们已经表明，摄入富含胆碱的饮食会显著提高血液胆碱水平，并增强蛞蝓中一个已确定的胆碱能突触的传递。综合这些结果支持胆碱能突触参与记忆保留机制。
