title: Effect of exposure to high pressure on subsequent spatial learning and memory in rats.
abstract: The effects of high helium pressure on the subsequent acquisition of spatial memory were studied in male rats. Thirty-two rats were exposed to 65 ATA helium-oxygen pressure for 4.2 days, decompressed (total time in chamber 5 days), and then tested in an eight-arm radial maze. Thirty-two control rats were exposed in the chamber to 1 ATA air. Each rat had 20 sessions in the maze (2 sessions/day for 10 days), and the number of correct (visiting an arm not previously visited to obtain the reward pellet) and incorrect choices (visiting a previously visited arm) were recorded. Statistical analysis showed that the rats exposed to 65 ATA performed significantly better than 1-ATA controls during the first 8 of 20 sessions. This effect was most pronounced in sessions 5-8. Results for sessions 9-20 showed that the pressure-treated rats still made more correct choices but to an extent that did not always reach statistical significance. Possible explanations include the pressure-treated rats performing better because of hunger after a lower food consumption at pressure. Alternatively, pressure itself may enhance proposed mechanisms of spatial memory such as long-term potentiation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Anaesthesia, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wardley-Smith
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dore
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cowey
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Halsey
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hudson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D003664:Decompression; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013037:Spatial Behavior