title: Within-subject decline in delayed-non-match-to-sample radial arm maze performance in aging Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: A within-subject design was used to examine delayed-non-match-to-sample radial arm maze performance in aging (6-18 months) male Sprague-Dawley rats. A decrease in correct choices and an increase in retroactive errors were observed at all retention intervals at 18 months of age compared with performance at 6 or 12 months. No age by retention interval interaction was observed. Neither age nor increasing retention interval influenced proactive errors during the retention test. The observation of an age- and delay-dependent increase in retroactive errors, but not proactive errors, suggests that the deficit relates to a memory dysfunction as opposed to a generalized performance deficit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University of Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chrobak
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hanin
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lorens
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Napier
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D011939:Mental Recall; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology