Adaptive emotional memory: the key hippocampal-amygdalar interaction.

For centuries philosophical and clinical studies have emphasized a fundamental dichotomy between emotion and cognition, as, for instance, between behavioral/emotional memory and explicit/representative memory. However, the last few decades cognitive neuroscience have highlighted data indicating that emotion and cognition, as well as their underlying neural networks, are in fact in close interaction. First, it turns out that emotion can serve cognition, as exemplified by its critical contribution to decision-making or to the enhancement of episodic memory.

Timing associated with oviductal sperm storage and release after artificial insemination in domestic hens.

Female birds store sperm in sperm storage tubules (SSTs) in the uterovaginal junction of their reproductive tract for days or weeks (depending on species) before fertilization. Sperm are transported from the SSTs to the infundibulum where fertilization occurs immediately after ovulation of each ovum. The timing of sperm release from the SSTs relative to ovulation is unknown for any bird.

Changes in Heart Rate Variability during a tonic immobility test in quail.

Tonic immobility (TI) is an unlearned fear response induced by a brief physical restraint and characterized by a marked autonomic nervous system involvement. This experiment aimed at studying the relative involvement of both autonomic sub-systems, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, during TI, by analyzing Heart Rate Variability. Quail selected genetically for long (LTI) or short (STI) TI duration and quail from a control line (CTI) were used.

Emotional reactivity modulates autonomic responses to an acoustic challenge in quail.

Emotional reactivity modulates autonomic responses to an acoustic challenge in quail. Physio Behav 00(0) 000-000, 2006. This study investigated the relationship between emotional reactivity and behavioral and autonomic responses to an acoustic stimulus in quail.

Effects of androgen treatment on behavioral and physiological responses of heifers to fear-eliciting situations.

Sex steroids are known to influence dominance relationships in cattle. This effect seems due to a reduction of fear in response to conspecifics. In order to determine if gonadal steroid can also modulate fear reactions in nonsocial situations, testosterone-treated heifers were exposed to various events reported to elicit fear in cattle.

Regulation of calbindin D 28K and its mRNA in the intestine of the domestic hen.

Intestinal calbindin synthesis in laying hens was analyzed to assess controlling factors operating during egg formation. In the absence of vitamin D, calbindin was not induced by estrogen and testosterone. In immature vitamin D-replete pullet, blood levels of 1,25(OH)2D3 increased in response to estrogen but the duodenal concentration of calbindin and its mRNA were increased only when testosterone was given together with estrogen.

Plasma 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol and its free index are potentiated by ovulation dependent factors and shell formation induced hypocalcemia in the laying hens.

The time-course of the changes in blood ionized calcium, and in plasma 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3) concentrations and its free index were studied in hens following suppression and resumption of shell formation and throughout the laying cycle in hens laying hard-shelled eggs, in hens fed a low or normal calcium diet and in hens laying shell-less eggs. The respective roles of the calcium needs for shell formation and of the reproductive status in regulation of 1,25(OH)2D3 production were analysed. Plasma 1,25(OH)2D3 decreased 3 hr after suppression of shell formation following premature egg expulsion and remained lower than that of hens laying hard-shelled eggs when premature expulsion of the eggs was continued for several days.

Increases in calbindin D 28K mRNA in the uterus of the domestic fowl induced by sexual maturity and shell formation.

Uterine concentrations of calbindin D 28K mRNA were measured in immature pullets and laying hens by dot-blot hybridization using a [32P]cRNA probe prepared from the calbindin cDNA. In immature pullets, estrogen increased the calbindin mRNA level and the plasma concentration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3]. When testosterone was administered with estrogen there was a further increase in calbindin and its mRNA and an increase in the free 1,25-(OH)2D3 index calculated as the ratio of the molar concentrations of total 1,25-(OH)2D3 and vitamin D-binding protein (DBP).