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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 12, 2006, 26(15):4071-4081; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3408-05.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Impaired Sequential Egocentric and Allocentric Memories in Forebrain-Specific–NMDA Receptor Knock-Out Mice during a New Task Dissociating Strategies of Navigation

Laure Rondi-Reig,^1 * Géraldine H. Petit,^1,2 * Christine Tobin,² Susumu Tonegawa,³ Jean Mariani,² and Alain Berthoz¹

¹Collège de France, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7152, Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l’Action, F-75005 Paris, France, ²Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, CNRS, UMR 7102, Laboratoire Neurobiologie des Processus adaptatifs, Equipe Développement et Vieillissement du Système Nerveux, F-75005 Paris, France, and ³The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Correspondence should be addressed to Laure Rondi-Reig, Collège de France, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7152, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l’Action, 75005 Paris, France. Email: laure.rondi-reig{at}college-de-france.fr

The hippocampus is considered to play a role in allocentric but not in egocentric spatial learning. How does this view fit with the emerging evidence that the hippocampus and possibly related cortical areas are necessary for episodic-like memory, i.e., in all situations in which events need to be spatially or sequentially organized? Are NMDA receptor-dependent mechanisms crucial for the acquisition of spatiotemporal relationships? To address this issue, we used knock-out (KO) mice lacking hippocampal CA1 NMDA receptors and presenting a reduction of these receptors in the deep cortical layers (NR1-KO mice). A new task (the starmaze) was designed, allowing us to distinguish allocentric and sequential-egocentric memories. NR1-KO mice were impaired in acquiring both types of memory. Our findings suggest that memories composed of multiple spatiotemporal events require intact NMDA receptors-dependent mechanisms in CA1 and possibly in the deep cortical layers.

Key words: hippocampus; starmaze; NMDA receptors; sequential-egocentric strategy; allocentric strategy; episodic-like memory

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Received April 7, 2005; revised Feb. 23, 2006; accepted Feb. 24, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Laure Rondi-Reig, Collège de France, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7152, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l’Action, 75005 Paris, France. Email: laure.rondi-reig{at}college-de-france.fr

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