Of Mice and Mazes: Similarities Between Mice and Rats on Dry Land But Not Water Mazes
Section snippets
Subjects
Eight 60-day-old Long-Evans hooded rats (4 females and 4 males) and eight 60-day-old C57BL/6 mice (4 female and 4 male) were used. The animals lived in groups of 4 in hanging wire mesh cages (rats) or plastic tubs filled with cobbed bedding (mice) in an animal room with the temperature set at 21°C and with a light/dark cycle set at h. There were no sex differences in any of the tests.
Food Deprivation
For dry-land maze testing, the animals were placed on a restricted feeding schedule that maintained them at
Dry-Land Maze Acquisition
For initial radial-arm maze learning, the animals were placed individually in the center of the maze once each day for 11 days. The same 4 arms were baited with sunflower seeds each day (Fig. 1 top, left). Animals were removed from the apparatus after they had found all of the sunflower seeds or after 10 min, whichever came first.
Animals in both groups displayed improved performance across days in that the number of initial errors, reentries, and total errors decreased, Fs (10,140) > 9.18, ps <
DISCUSSION
The main finding of this study is that, in dry-land maze tests, there is no difference in the performance of rats and mice, whereas in a swimming-pool spatial task the performance of the mice is inferior to that of the rats. These results suggest that the spatial abilites of mice are not inferior to those of rats. Nevertheless, the results confirm that mice do more poorly in swimming-pool tasks, which suggests that it is likely that nonspatial factors contribute to the poor performance of mice
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and from the National Center of Excellence for Recovery of Function.
References (56)
- et al.
Strain-dependent variations in the number of forebrain cholinergic neurons
Brain Res.
(1985) - et al.
Spatial and nonspatial spontaneous alternation and hippocampal mossy fiber distribution in nine inbred mouse strains
Behav. Brain Res.
(1991) A purely geometric module in the rats spatial representation
Cognition
(1986)- et al.
Hippocampal mossy fiber distribution covaries with open-field habituation in the mouse
Behav. Brain Res.
(1987) - et al.
Radial-maze performance and structural variation of the hippocampus in mice: a correlation with mossy fiber distribution
Brain Res.
(1987) - et al.
Behavioral responses to novelty and structural variation of the hippocampus in mice. II: Multivariate genetic analysis
Behav. Brain Res.
(1989) - et al.
Sexually dimorphic spatial learning varies seasonally in two populations of deer mice
Brain Res.
(1994) - et al.
Developmental changes in spatial learning in Morris water-maze in young meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus
Behav. Brain Res.
(1994) Some comments on the special cognitive functions claimed for the hippocampus
Cortex
(1994)On the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory in the rat
Behav. Neural Biol.
(1993)
Spatial water maze learning using celestial cues by the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus
Behav. Brain Res.
Brain-behavior relationships in the frontal cortex of the rat: A comparative review
Brain Res.
Strain-specific correlations between hippocampal structural traits and habituation in a spatial novelty situation
Behav. Brain Res.
Failure of mice to demonstrate spatail memory in the radial maze
Behav. Neur. Biol.
Spatial localization does not require the presence of local cues
Learn. Motiv.
Radial maze performance in three strains of mice: Role of the fimbria/fornix
Brain Res.
Radial maze learning using exclusively distant visual cues reveals learners and nonlearners among inbred mouse strains
Physiol. Behav.
Hippocampal mossy fibers and radial-maze learning in the mouse: A correlation with spatial working memory but not with nonspatial reference memory
Neuroscience
Spatial mapping: Definitive disruption by hippocampal or medial frontal cortical damage in the rat
Neurosci. Lett.
The behavioral neurobiology of learning and memory: A conceptual reorientation
Brain Res.
Formation of a place learning-set in the rat: A new procedure for neurobehavioral studies
Physiol. Behav.
Hippocampal granule cell and CA3-4 lesions impair formation of a place learning set in the rat and induce reflex epilepsy
Behav. Brain Res.
Dissociating performance and learning deficits on spatial navigation tasks in rats subjected to cholinergic muscarinic blockade
Brain Res. Bull.
A comparison of rats and mice in a swimming pool place task and matching to place task: Some surprising differences
Physiol. Behav.
Spatial memory, maze running strategies and cholinergic mechanisms in inbred strains of mice
Behav. Brain Res.
Learning in inbred mice: strain-specific abilities across 3 radial maze problems
Behav. Gen.
Genetically associated variation in the distribution of dentat e granule cell synapses upon the pyramidal cell dendrites in mouse hippocampus
J. Comp. Neurol.
The natural history of the house mouse
Field Studies
Cited by (198)
Are cognitive aspects of defense a core feature of anxiety and depression?
2023, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsSalt as a non-caloric behavioral modifier: A review of evidence from pre-clinical studies
2022, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsAnxiety and Alzheimer's disease: Behavioral analysis and neural basis in rodent models of Alzheimer's-related neuropathology
2021, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsNPY-Y1 receptor signaling controls spatial learning and perineuronal net expression
2021, NeuropharmacologyTreading water: mixed effects of high fat diet on mouse behavior in the forced swim test
2020, Physiology and BehaviorDifferential navigational strategies during spatial learning in a new modified version of the Oasis maze
2020, Behavioural Brain Research