Learning in the Single-Cell Organism Physarum polycephalum : Effect of Propofol
Propofol belongs to a class of molecules that are known to block learning and memory in mammals, including rodents and humans. Interestingly, learning and memory are not tied to the presence of a nervous system. There are several lines of evidence indicating that single-celled organisms also have th...
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Veröffentlicht in: | International journal of molecular sciences 2023-03, Vol.24 (7), p.6287 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Propofol belongs to a class of molecules that are known to block learning and memory in mammals, including rodents and humans. Interestingly, learning and memory are not tied to the presence of a nervous system. There are several lines of evidence indicating that single-celled organisms also have the capacity for learning and memory which may be considered as basal intelligence. Here, we introduce a new experimental model for testing the learning ability of
, a model organism frequently used to study single-celled "intelligence". In this study, the impact of propofol on
's "intelligence" was tested. The model consists of a labyrinth of subsequent bifurcations in which food (oat flakes soaked with coconut oil-derived medium chain triglycerides [MCT] and soybean oil-derived long chain triglycerides [LCT]) or propofol in MCT/LCT) is placed in one of each Y-branch. In this setting, it was tested whether
memorized the rewarding branch. We saw that
was a quick learner when capturing the first bifurcations of the maze; thereafter, the effect decreased, perhaps due to reaching a state of satiety. In contrast, when oat flakes were soaked with propofol,
's preference for oat flakes declined significantly. Several possible actions, including the blocking of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor signaling, are suggested to account for this behavior, many of which can be tested in our new model. |
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ISSN: | 1422-0067 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
DOI: | 10.3390/ijms24076287 |