Single-Session Training to Conditioned Reflex Freezing to Odor in Mice: A New Behavioral Model for Studies of the Cellular Mechanisms of the Formation and Extraction of Olfactory Memory

Olfactory memory is one of the most ancient cognitive systems in the mammal brain and has its own neural structures and mechanisms. Most behavioral models of olfactory memory in laboratory animals use several training sessions, which significantly hinders the detection and study of the neural networks of the brain involved in the acquisition of this type of memory and which undergo derangement in pathology. We have developed a mouse model of the acquisition of conditioned reflex freezing in response to the odor of amyl acetate in which learning time was 40–80 sec and the associative memory, was long-term and persisted for at least two weeks. Our model allows for precise identification of the moment of formation of olfactory memory to provide for subsequent studies of the neural networks involved in this process in health and disease.