Durkin T P, Beaufort C, Leblond L, Maviel T
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS UMR 5106, Université de Bordeaux 1, Avenue des Facultés, 33405, Talence, France.
Behav Brain Res. 2000 Nov 15;116(1):39-53. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(00)00248-5.
A 5-arm maze has been developed to provide parallel tests of sustained visuo-spatial attention and spatial working memory in mice. C57Bl/6 mice were trained to select, either by immediate response (attention) or by delayed-matching response (working memory), one target arm among the five open arms. For attention testing, mice were first trained to acquire the basic task in which one randomly selected baited arm remained lit until a choice was made. Criterion of >80% correct with a response latency <5 s was attained in 52-56 trials. Following this, attention was tested by using trials wherein light signal durations of 2, 1 or 0.5 s were intermixed to vary attentional load. In the working memory test, mice were submitted to a forced visit to a randomly selected baited arm during a presentation phase. Following a variable retention interval (R.I.), mice were replaced into the maze and rewarded for choosing this arm. Criterion of >80% correct was attained in 35-40 trials and mice exhibited high levels of retention for R.I.s up to 4 h. Results validate the 5-arm maze for evaluation of both sustained visuo-spatial attention and spatial working memory in mice. Both the tasks are rapidly acquired and the 20% chance level provides high resolution for evaluating performance. This comparative strategy allows to dissociate attention and memory and to reveal deficits in these processes during ageing or in knockout strains. The high level of retention performance over R.I.s of 4 h enables studies using pharmacological treatments differentially affecting the acquisition, encoding, retention or retrieval phases of working memory. Furthermore, functional brain imaging studies may be used to identify neuronal networks which are differentially activated during these distinct phases.
已开发出一种五臂迷宫，用于对小鼠的持续视觉空间注意力和空间工作记忆进行平行测试。训练C57Bl/6小鼠通过即时反应（注意力）或延迟匹配反应（工作记忆）在五个开放臂中选择一个目标臂。在注意力测试中，首先训练小鼠掌握基本任务，即随机选择的一个诱饵臂保持点亮，直到做出选择。在52 - 56次试验中达到了正确率>80%且反应潜伏期<5秒的标准。在此之后，通过使用将2秒（s）、1秒或0.5秒的光信号持续时间混合以改变注意力负荷的试验来测试注意力。在工作记忆测试中，在呈现阶段让小鼠被强制访问一个随机选择的诱饵臂。经过可变的保持间隔（R.I.）后，将小鼠放回迷宫，并因选择该臂而获得奖励。在35 - 40次试验中达到了正确率>80%的标准，并且小鼠在长达4小时的保持间隔中表现出高水平的保持能力。结果验证了五臂迷宫可用于评估小鼠的持续视觉空间注意力和空间工作记忆。这两项任务都能快速掌握，并且20%的随机概率水平为评估表现提供了高分辨率。这种比较策略能够区分注意力和记忆，并揭示衰老过程中或基因敲除品系中这些过程的缺陷。在长达4小时的保持间隔中高水平的保持表现使得能够使用药理学处理来研究对工作记忆的获取、编码、保持或提取阶段有不同影响的情况。此外，功能性脑成像研究可用于识别在这些不同阶段被差异激活的神经网络。
