Differential learning abilities of 129T2/Sv and C57BL/6J mice as assessed in three water maze protocols.
Knockout mice are generated by using ES cells from 129 mouse strains and are frequently backcrossed with other strains, like C57BL/6. It is important to characterise the physiological and, in particular, the behavioural profile of each strain in order to correctly analyse the functional contribution of a single gene mutation on the 'cognitive' phenotype. The present study compared 129T2/Sv (129) and C57BL/6J (C57) mice in three different spatial learning protocols in the water maze, using a hidden platform. In the 'standard' reference memory protocol, 129 and C57 attained an equivalent level of performance as assessed by accuracy in reaching the platform (path length), despite a faster swim speed exhibited by C57 mice. In a stepwise learning task, C57 mice showed poorer performances over all stages of learning. However they performed better than 129 in a massed learning protocol which taxes short-term memory, and in which they exhibited lower levels of perseveration. The results emphasize the importance of using various tasks differing in cognitive demand, but using the same experimental environment and motivation, in order to 1) evaluate strain- or mutation-dependent learning abilities, and 2) dissociate the roles played by cognitive and non-cognitive factors in the behavioural requirements of the tasks.
Wolff
Mathieu
M
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5106, Université de Bordeaux 1, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence Cedex, France.
Savova
Magdaléna
M
Malleret
Gaël
G
Segu
Louis
L
Buhot
Marie-Christine
MC
D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology