title: Long-term study of chronic oral aluminum exposure and spatial working memory in rats.
abstract: The authors report an effort to advance animal models that mimic the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease. Rats were trained and repeatedly tested in a spatial delayed matching-to-position paradigm in the water maze, with the location of the submerged platform changing between, but not within, days. After Trial 1 (random search) and intertrial intervals of 30 s or 1 hr, memory was tested in Trial 2. Young rats quickly acquired this task and were repeatedly tested after different intervals over 7 months, with a slight increase in performance toward the end of testing, but no difference in latencies between delays. Oral long-term treatment of 1 group with 0.1% aluminum caused no delay-dependent working memory deficit. This testing protocol may enable between- and within-subject long-term assessment of spatial working memory before and after drug treatment and may prove useful in animal models of progressive cognitive decline.
authors: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Fostererhill, Scotland.
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: von Linstow Roloff
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Platt
authors: Gernot
authors: G
authors: Riedel
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000535:Aluminum / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000818:Animals; D003463:Cues; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051381:Rats; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000535:Aluminum