Noradrenergic control of odor recognition in a nonassociative olfactory learning task in the mouse

Abstract

The present study examined the influence of pharmacological modulations of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic system on odor recognition in the mouse. Mice exposed to a nonrewarded olfactory stimulation (training) were able to memorize this odor and to discriminate it from a new odor in a recall test performed 15 min later. At longer delays (30 or 60 min), the familiar odor was no longer retained, and both stimuli were perceived as new ones. Following a post-training injection of the α₂-adrenoceptor antagonist dexefaroxan, the familiar odor was still remembered 30 min after training. In contrast, both the α₂-adrenoceptor agonist UK 14304 and the noradrenergic neurotoxin DSP-4 prevented the recognition of the familiar odor 15 min after the first exposure. Noradrenaline release in the olfactory bulb, assessed by measurement of the extracellular noradrenaline metabolite normetanephrine, was increased by 62% following dexefaroxan injection, and was decreased by 38%–44% after treatment with UK 14304 and DSP-4. Performance of mice in the recall test was reduced by a post-training injection of the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol or the α₁-antagonist prazosin, thus implicating a role for β- and α₁-adrenoceptors in the facilitating effects of noradrenaline on short-term olfactory recognition in this model.