title: Loss of learning in mice when exposed to rat odor: a water maze study.
abstract: The study was designed to test the hypothesis if predator stress can affect learning in mice when exposed to rat odor. We investigated the spatial memory performance of Swiss albino mice in a 7 d Morris water maze (MWM) paradigm by exposing them to the odor of predator (Wistar rats). The results revealed that rat odor produced amnesia in the mice while mice odor did not affect learning in rats, analyzed by the escape latency time (ELT) in acquition trials and search error in retrieval trials. Moreover, the memory loss in mice was comparable to the degree of amnesia produced by scopolamine, a control amnesic agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Avijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banik
authors.forename: Akshay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anand
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009812:Odorants; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar