Abstract
The authors report an effort to advance animal models that mimic the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease. Rats were trained and repeatedly tested in a spatial delayed matching-to-position paradigm in the water maze, with the location of the submerged platform changing between, but not within, days. After Trial 1 (random search) and intertrial intervals of 30 s or 1 hr, memory was tested in Trial 2. Young rats quickly acquired this task and were repeatedly tested after different intervals over 7 months, with a slight increase in performance toward the end of testing, but no difference in latencies between delays. Oral long-term treatment of 1 group with 0.1 % aluminum caused no delay-dependent working memory deficit. This testing protocol may enable between- and within-subject long-term assessment of spatial working memory before and after drug treatment and may prove useful in animal models of progressive cognitive decline.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 351-356 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Behavioral Neuroscience |
Volume | 116 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- INDUCED NEUROFIBRILLARY DEGENERATION
- EPISODIC-LIKE MEMORY
- ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE
- SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY
- SYSTEMIC ALUMINUM
- TOXICITY
- BRAIN
- HIPPOCAMPAL
- RABBITS
- POTENTIATION