School of Life Sciences, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, China.
School of Life Sciences, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, China.
Behav Brain Res. 2025 Feb 4;477:115282. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115282. Epub 2024 Oct 5.
Seed odor plays a crucial role in affecting the scatter-hoarding behavior of small rodents that rely on spatial memory and olfaction to cache and recover. However, evidence of how seed odor modifies olfaction function and spatial memory is still lacking. Here, we coated seeds with waterproof glue to test how seed odor intensity alters the proteome of both the olfactory bulbs and hippocampus of a dominant scatter-hoarding rodent, Leopoldamys edwardsi, in Southwest China. We showed that animals repeatedly caching and recovering weak odor seeds exhibited greater olfactory ability and spatial memory, as indicated by alterations in the protein profiles of the olfactory bulbs and hippocampus. The upregulation of proteins closely related to neural connections between the olfactory bulb and hippocampus is highly responsible for improved olfactory function and spatial memory. Our study provides new insights into how scatter-hoarding rodents manage and respond to cached seeds differing in odor intensity from a neurobiological perspective, which is of significant importance for better understanding the parallel evolution of the olfactory and hippocampal systems.
种子气味在影响依赖空间记忆和嗅觉来储存和取回的小型啮齿动物的散布贮藏行为方面起着至关重要的作用。然而，关于种子气味如何改变嗅觉功能和空间记忆的证据仍然缺乏。在这里，我们用防水胶包裹种子，以测试种子气味强度如何改变中国西南地区优势散布贮藏啮齿动物 Leopoldamys edwardsi 的嗅球和海马体的蛋白质组。我们表明，反复储存和取回弱气味种子的动物表现出更强的嗅觉能力和空间记忆，这表明嗅球和海马体的蛋白质图谱发生了变化。与嗅球和海马体之间神经连接密切相关的蛋白质的上调高度负责改善嗅觉功能和空间记忆。我们的研究从神经生物学的角度为理解嗅觉和海马体系统的平行进化提供了新的见解，这对于更好地理解气味强度不同的贮藏种子的啮齿动物如何管理和应对这些种子具有重要意义。
