title: Intact spatial learning in adult Tg2576 mice.
abstract: Tg2576 mice, a transgenic model of amyloid pathology associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), develop measurable levels of soluble amyloid beta1-40 and 1-42 by 6 months of age and amyloid plaque deposition in cortex, hippocampus and amygdala by 10 months of age. To investigate whether non-hippocampal learning strategies would predominate coincident with the age-related increase in Abeta load in the hippocampal region, we measured learning strategies in the T-maze and a redundant cued version of the water maze. Each of these tasks can be solved using either hippocampal or non-hippocampal learning strategies and has proved sensitive to hippocampal disruption in other settings. The results revealed subtle differences in T-maze and water maze performance in Tg2576 mice compared to controls. Surprisingly, however, Tg2576 mice were not impaired relative to non-transgenic littermates on any measures of hippocampal dependent behavior assessed in these tasks. These data suggest that the medial temporal lobe retains considerable function in 15-month-old Tg2576 mice despite significant Abeta pathology.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral and Cellular Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bizon
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: Michelle M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nicolle
mesh_terms: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000235:genetics*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides