title: Assessment of age-associated cognitive deficits in rats: a tricky business.
abstract: Every living organism is affected by changes as a consequence of aging. Perhaps the most appropriate concept to describe age-related changes is that of 'functional age'. Laboratory rodents are especially suited as models of cognitive aging in humans, because they have a relatively short life-span and because many tests have been developed to investigate their cognitive performance. Examples from studies using the Morris water escape task were chosen to describe and discuss factors which must be considered before drawing conclusions about age-related cognitive deficits. In particular, the roles of rearing and housing conditions, of sensorimotor impairments, and of motivational differences between young and old rats are discussed. Conclusions are drawn about how aging studies should be conceived and performed.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurobiology, Institute for Anatomy II, University of Köln, Joseph Stelzmann Str 9, 50931, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: F Josef
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van der Staay
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D018782:Maze Learning; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009042:Motivation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D051381:Rats; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D013028:Space Perception; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water