Lesions of the rat postsubiculum impair performance on spatial tasks

Previous studies have identified a population of neurons in the postsubiculum that discharge as a function of the rat's head direction in the horizontal plane (Taube, Muller, & Ranck, 1990a). To assess the contribution of these cells in spatial learning, Long—Evans rats were tested in a variety of spatial and nonspatial tasks following bilateral electrolytic or neurotoxic lesions of the postsubiculum. Compared to unlesioned control animals, lesioned animals were impaired on two spatial tasks, a radial eight-arm maze task and a Morris water task, although the performance scores of both lesion groups improved over the course of behavioral testing. In contrast, lesioned animals were unimpaired on two nonspatial tasks, a cued version of the water maze task and a conditioned taste-aversion, paradigm. In addition, lesioned animals showed transient hyperactivity in an open-field activity test. These results support the concept that neurons in the postsubiculum are part of a neural network involved in the processing of spatial information.