Noradrenergic activation of the basolateral amygdala modulates the consolidation of object-in-context recognition memory

Noradrenergic activation of the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) is well known to enhance the consolidation of long-term memory of highly emotionally arousing training experiences. The present study investigated whether such noradrenergic activation of the BLA also influences the consolidation of object-in-context recognition memory, a low-arousing training task assessing episodic-like memory. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to two identical objects in one context for either 3 or 10 min, immediately followed by exposure to two other identical objects in a distinctly different context. Immediately after the training they received bilateral intra-BLA infusions of norepinephrine (0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 μ g) or the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol (0.1, 0.3, or 1.0 μ g). On the 24-h retention test, rats were placed back into one of the training contexts with one copy of each of the two training objects. Thus, although both objects were familiar, one of the objects had not previously been encountered in this particular test context. Hence, if the animal generated a long-term memory for the association between an object and its context, it would spend significantly more time exploring the object that was not previously experienced in this context. Saline-infused control rats exhibited poor 24-h retention when given 3 min of training and good retention when given 10 min of training. Norepinephrine administered after 3 min of object-in-context training induced a dose-dependent memory enhancement, whereas propranolol administered after 10 min of training produced memory impairment. These findings provide evidence that post-training noradrenergic activation of the BLA also enhances the consolidation of memory of object-in-context recognition training, enabling accuracy of episodic-like memories.