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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Molecular mechanisms of taste-recognition memory

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 5, pages 209–217 (2004)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Taste-recognition memory — the ability to identify a taste and relate it to past consequences of its ingestion — is extremely important from an evolutionary point of view.

  • There are two forms of taste-recognition memory: safe and aversive taste memory. They might be regulated by different neural pathways and seem to have different molecular mechanisms.

  • The neuroanatomy of gustatory and visceral information is well established. There are different points of convergence in which the association between taste and its visceral consequences can be integrated. The best studied of these structures is the insular cortex.

  • Safe taste memory seems to involve cholinergic neurotransmission and its downstream signalling pathways, and its mechanisms might be related to those described for the processing of novelty in the nervous system.

  • Aversive taste memory also involves glutamatergic neurotransmission and its downstream signalling pathways, and other transmitters, such as the noradrenergic system, might have modulatory roles. For long-term taste memory, protein synthesis is necessary.

  • The extinction of aversive taste memory seems to be independent of the cholinergic system, and its mechanisms seem to be related to those involved in the formation of aversive taste memory.

Abstract

From an evolutionary point of view, one of the most important forms of memory is taste-recognition memory. When an animal eats, food-related cues are associated with the consequences of its ingestion. So, if a new taste is associated with malaise, animals will reject it on the next presentation, developing a long-lasting taste aversion. Conversely, when taste is not accompanied by digestive malaise, it becomes recognized as a safe signal, and the animal increases its consumption. In this review, the putative molecular signals and biochemical events that mediate the formation of safe and aversive taste-recognition memory traces are discussed.

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Figure 1: Two taste memory traces.
Figure 2: Anatomical localization of the structures involved in processing taste and visceral information.
Figure 3: Schematic drawing of the principal taste and visceral brain pathways.
Figure 4: Integration of taste-recognition memory in the insular cortex (IC).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico, and by the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (UNAM). I dedicate this work to my dear mentor J. Garcia for introducing me to C.T.A. I thank R. Tapia, E. Espinosa, my students L. Ramírez-Lugo, V. de la Cruz, C. Ortiz and I. Balderas, and all of my collaborators who make valuable comments to this review.

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  1. Departamento de Neurociencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-253, México, D.F. 04510, México

    Federico Bermúdez-Rattoni

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Glossary

SPREADING DEPRESSION

A slowly-moving depression of electrical activity in the cerebral cortex. It consists of a wave of depolarization that can last for up to 2 minutes and travels at a speed of 3–12 millimeters per minute. Wave passage is accompanied by increased blood flow and is followed by a prolonged period of vasodilation. Spreading depression seems to be related to migraine, and has been observed to accompany cerebral ischaemia.

MICRODIALYSIS

A technique that allows the sampling of neurochemicals in the brain of live animals. It commonly uses a small U-shaped cannula that serves a dual function: it allows the injection of molecules of interest to test their effect, and it provides a pathway for the flow and subsequent collection of perfusate from a small brain area.

MORRIS WATER MAZE

A learning task in which an animal is placed in a pool filled with opaque water and has to learn to escape to a hidden platform that is placed at a constant position. The animal must learn to use distal cues, and the spatial relationship between them and the platform. Learning in this task involves the hippocampus.

MUSHROOM BODIES

The prominent bilaterally symmetrical structures in the insect brain that are crucial for olfactory learning and memory. Olfactory information is relayed to the mushroom bodies by projection neurons from the antennal lobes.

OCTOPAMINE

Catecholamine that functions as neurotransmitter in many invertebrates.

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Bermúdez-Rattoni, F. Molecular mechanisms of taste-recognition memory. Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 209–217 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1344

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