GluR-A-Deficient mice display normal acquisition of a hippocampus-dependent spatial reference memory task but are impaired during spatial reversal.
Acquisition and reversal of a spatial discrimination were assessed in an appetitive, elevated plus-maze task in 4 groups of mice: knockout mice lacking the AMPA receptor subunit GluR-A (GluR1), wild-type controls, mice with cytotoxic hippocampal lesions, and controls that had undergone sham surgery. In agreement with previous studies using tasks such as the water maze, GluR-A(-/-) mice were unimpaired during acquisition of the spatial discrimination task, whereas performance in the hippocampalgroup remained at chance levels. In contrast to their performance during acquisition, the GluR-A(-/-) mice displayed a mild deficit during reversal of the spatial discrimination and were profoundly impaired during discrete trial, rewarded-alternation testing on the elevated T maze. The latter result suggests a short-term, flexible spatial working memory impairment in GluR-A(-/-) mice, which might also underlie their mild deficit during spatial reversal.
Bannerman
D M
DM
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. david.bannerman@psy.ox.ac.uk
Deacon
R M J
RM
Seeburg
P H
PH
Rawlins
J N P
JN
D000818:Animals; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception
D018091:Receptors, AMPA