Part of Striatum also Involved in Learning and Memory

The marginal division of the striatum is also involved along with the hippocampus in learning and memory. What is the impact degree of substance P in the striatal marginal division on learning and memory function? Yan Yu and his team, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, China found, using immunofluorescence staining, that substance P receptor, neurokinin 1 was highly expressed in the hippocampus and striatal marginal division of normal rats.

Unilateral or bilateral injection of an antisense oligonucleotide against neurokinin 1 receptor mRNA in the rat hippocampus or marginal division of the striatum effectively reduced neurokinin 1 receptor expression, and rat learning and memory function was significantly decreased. The authors considered that marginal division of the striatum plays a similar function in learning and memory to the hippocampus. Related results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 8, 2014).

Source: Eurekalert