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Regulation of gene expression is an essential step during long-term memory formation. Recently, the involvement of DNA-binding transcription factors and chromatin remodeling in synaptic plasticity have been intensively studied. The process of learning was shown to be associated with chromatin remodeling through histone modifications such as acetylation and phosphorylation. We have previously shown that the MAPK/ERK (mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase) regulatory cascade plays a key role in the food aversion conditioning in the mollusk Helix. Specifically, command neurons of withdrawal behavior exhibit a learning-dependent asymmetry (left–right) in MAPK/ERK activation. Here, we expanded our molecular studies by focusing on a potential MAPK/ERK target – histone H3. We studied whether there is a learning-induced MAPK/ERK-dependent acetylation of histone H3 in command neurons RPa(2/3) and LPa(2/3) of the right and left parietal ganglia and whether it is asymmetrical. We found a significant learning-dependent increase in histone H3 acetylation in RPa(2/3) neurons but not in LPa(2/3) neurons. Such an increase in right command neurons depended on MAPK/ERK activation and correlated with a lateralized avoidance movement to the right visible 48 h after training. The molecular changes found in a selective set of neurons could thus represent a lateralized memory process, which may lead to consistent turning in one direction when avoiding a food that has been paired with an aversive stimulus.

The hippocampus is a crucial part of the limbic system involved both in cognitive processing and in the regulation of responses to stress. Adverse experiences early in life can disrupt hippocampal development and lead to impairment of the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis response to subsequent stressors. In our study, two types of early‐life stress were used: prolonged separation of pups from their mothers (for 3 hours/day, maternal separation, MS) and brief separation (for 15 minutes/day, handling, HD). In the first part of our study, we found that adult female mice (F0) who had experienced MS showed reduced locomotor activity and impairment of long‐term spatial and recognition memory. Analysis of various hippocampal regions showed that MS reduced the number of mature neurons in CA3 of females, which is perhaps a crucial hippocampal region for learning and memory; however, neurogenesis remained unchanged. In the second part, we measured maternal care in female mice with a history of early‐life stress (F0) as well as the behavior of their adult offspring (F1). Our results indicated that MS reduced the level of maternal care in adult females (F0) toward their own progeny and caused sex‐specific changes in the social behavior of adult offspring (F1). In contrast to MS, HD had no influence on female behavior or hippocampal plasticity. Overall, our results suggest that prolonged MS early in life affects the adult behavior of F0 female mice and hippocampal neuronal plasticity, whereas the mothers' previous experience has effects on the behavior of their F1 offspring through disturbances of mother‐infant interactions.

Western blot analysis was used to study the activation of MAP/ERK protein kinases responsible for controlling gene expression via phosphorylation of transcription factors CREB and ELK-1 in native common snails and animals with impaired abilities to form long-term types of conditioned aversive reflexes. Different periods of the formation of this reflex were found to be characterized by different levels of activation of MAP-ERK kinases. The extents of activation of MAP-ERK kinase cascade were different in ganglia (parietal-visceral, cerebral, and pedal) with different roles in the formation of this reflex. The dynamics of activation showed a wavelike nature, with peaks at 10 min and 4 h. Administration of the neurotoxin 5,7-DHT, which induces dysfunction of serotonin terminals and decreases the ability to acquire this type of learning, led to significant decreases in activation of the MAP-ERK kinase cascade at the early stages of learning, which is evidence for an important role for the serotoninergic system in inducing this cascade. Activation of the MAP/ERK kinase cascade 4 h after training was seen both in native and DHT-treated animals, which is probably evidence for activation of non-specific adaptive processes in response to the sensitizing unconditioned stimulus. Thus, the MAP/ERK kinase intracellular regulatory cascade, which plays an important role in the survival of neurons, the regeneration of neuron processes, and synaptic sprouting, also plays an important role in forming the serotonin-dependent food-aversive reflex in the common snail.

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