Hunger and sleep recruit distinct brain systems to form spatial memory

Authors

Tosadori, E., Bou, J., Dimitrov, S., Ocampo-Garces, A., Valdes, J., Inostroza, M., Born, J., Sawangjit, A.

Abstract

By demonstrating that hunger consolidates spatial memory via a non-hippocampal mechanism that critically involves the retrosplenial cortex, we identify a mode of memory formation that is distinct from well-known hippocampus-dependent memory formation during sleep. Food-deprived rats encoded object locations and, during a subsequent 2-h consolidation phase, either received food and slept (Sleep-Fed) or stayed awake (Wake-Fed), or remained hungry and stayed awake (Wake-Hungry). At later retrieval testing, both Wake-Hungry and Sleep-Fed rats exhibited robust spatial memory, whereas Wake-Fed rats did not. Blocking neuropeptide-Y (NPY) signaling during the consolidation phase abolished hunger-consolidated memory. Unlike sleep-dependent consolidation, hunger-consolidated memory did not require the hippocampus during consolidation or retrieval, and not even during encoding. In contrast, inhibiting retrosplenial cortex during retrieval abolished hunger-consolidated memory but spared memory formed during sleep. Thus, recruitment of brain systems to form spatial memory is tuned to specific brain states, and fundamentally differs between sleep and hunger.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 22 Sep 2026.

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