D'Hooge R, De Deyn P P
Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Behavior, Born-Bunge Foundation, and Department of Neurology/Memory Clinic, Middelheim Hospital, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610, Antwerp, Belgium.
Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 2001 Aug;36(1):60-90. doi: 10.1016/s0165-0173(01)00067-4.
The Morris water maze (MWM) was described 20 years ago as a device to investigate spatial learning and memory in laboratory rats. In the meanwhile, it has become one of the most frequently used laboratory tools in behavioral neuroscience. Many methodological variations of the MWM task have been and are being used by research groups in many different applications. However, researchers have become increasingly aware that MWM performance is influenced by factors such as apparatus or training procedure as well as by the characteristics of the experimental animals (sex, species/strain, age, nutritional state, exposure to stress or infection). Lesions in distinct brain regions like hippocampus, striatum, basal forebrain, cerebellum and cerebral cortex were shown to impair MWM performance, but disconnecting rather than destroying brain regions relevant for spatial learning may impair MWM performance as well. Spatial learning in general and MWM performance in particular appear to depend upon the coordinated action of different brain regions and neurotransmitter systems constituting a functionally integrated neural network. Finally, the MWM task has often been used in the validation of rodent models for neurocognitive disorders and the evaluation of possible neurocognitive treatments. Through its many applications, MWM testing gained a position at the very core of contemporary neuroscience research.
莫里斯水迷宫（MWM）在20年前被描述为一种用于研究实验大鼠空间学习和记忆的装置。与此同时，它已成为行为神经科学中最常用的实验室工具之一。许多研究小组在许多不同的应用中已经并正在使用MWM任务的多种方法变体。然而，研究人员越来越意识到，MWM的表现受到诸如实验装置或训练程序等因素以及实验动物特征（性别、物种/品系、年龄、营养状况、应激或感染暴露）的影响。海马体、纹状体、基底前脑、小脑和大脑皮层等不同脑区的损伤会损害MWM表现，但切断而非破坏与空间学习相关的脑区也可能损害MWM表现。一般来说，空间学习尤其是MWM表现似乎取决于构成功能整合神经网络的不同脑区和神经递质系统的协同作用。最后，MWM任务经常被用于验证神经认知障碍的啮齿动物模型以及评估可能的神经认知治疗方法。通过其众多应用，MWM测试在当代神经科学研究的核心占据了一席之地。
