Chronic Corticosterone Impairs Memory Performance in the Barnes Maze

doi:10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00529-5

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 63, Issue 5, March 1998, Pages 933-937

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00529-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

Chronic stress has been reported to impair spatial memory and cause hippocampal impairment in rodents. Glucocorticoids are believed to be the active agent in this impairment. Studies have demonstrated that chronic glucocorticoid administration results in animals being impaired in the Morris water maze (MWM) or eight-arm radial maze. Although both of these methods are well established means of testing spatial memory, neither might be considered optimal for studying the behavioral effects of stress. The Morris maze is itself highly stressful to the animals. The eight-arm maze relies on a food reward to motivate the animals, and glucocorticoids have profound effects on hunger and satiety. We therefore investigated behavioral deficits of corticosterone-treated animals in the two previously used mazes and the Barnes circular platform maze (BCM), a test similar in design to the Morris maze, but one that does not require the animal to perform a highly stressful swim. Consistent with results in other tests, we found that animals that had been treated for 3 months with stress-equivalent concentrations of glucocorticoids showed significantly impaired behavior in the Barnes maze.

Section snippets

Animals and Housing

Fourteen male, two-month old Fisher 344 × Brown Norway rats were obtained from Charles River (Wilmington, MA) through arrangement with the National Institute of Aging. Animals were maintained in our vivarium on a 12/12 light cycle, given food and water ad lib (except before RAM testing), and handled by experimenters at least 3 weeks before the beginning of any treatment. Behavioral testing was done in cohorts of 2–3 rats/treatment (CORT or control). The control rats used here were also used as

Results

CORT-treated animals slowly lost weight over the course of time when pellets were implanted. On the last day on which pellets remained implanted, the average body weight for control rats was 382 ± 13 g vs. 328 ± 15 g for CORT-treated rats, a difference that was significant (p < 0.05) by simple t-test. By the start of testing in the BCM, however, weight differences were no longer significant. Other than weight loss, CORT-treatment appeared to have little effect on overall health. No significant

Discussion

Both CORT-treated and control rats were capable of performing in the BCM, showing patterns of learning similar to those originally described by Barnes [2]. Consistent with findings in the MWM and RAM, however, chronic treatment with corticosterone was found to impair performance in the BCM. Because the BCM tests cognitive function without depending on food motivation and with minimal stress to the animal, this result may be taken as an indication that poor maze performance after glucocorticoid

Acknowledgements

We thank Melita Fasold for proofreading and for advice in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Brief CommunicationsChronic Corticosterone Impairs Memory Performance in the Barnes Maze

Abstract

Section snippets

Animals and Housing

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Brain Res.

Brain Res. Bull.

Physiol. Behav.

Neurobiol. Aging

Physiol. Behav.

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

J. Neurosci. Methods

Brain Res.

Brief Communications
Chronic Corticosterone Impairs Memory Performance in the Barnes Maze