Spatial learning deficits in old rats: a model for memory decline in the aged.
Spatial learning tasks are sensitive to functional decline in aged laboratory rodents. This is a review of recent work that has examined both the nature of age-related impairments on spatial tasks, and the relation of such deficits to underlying neurobiological mechanisms. The review supports the notion that hippocampal dysfunction underlies the mild/moderate cognitive decline that often accompanies normal aging. Thus the spatial learning deficit in aged rodents is a promising model for understanding the effect of age on brain systems that serve a memory function in humans.
Gallagher
M
M
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27514.
Pelleymounter
M A
MA
D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*