Hamilton Derek A, Kodituwakku Piyadasa, Sutherland Robert J, Savage Daniel D
Department of Psychology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2003 Jul 14;143(1):85-94. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(03)00028-7.
We employed a computerized (virtual) Morris water task (VMWT) to measure place learning and cued-navigation in eight adolescent males (9.5-16.5 years old) diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Eight adolescent males matched for age and ethnicity with no history of prenatal alcohol exposure served as controls. Participants were trained to navigate to a hidden platform in a fixed location relative to a set of four conspicuous extramaze cues. After 20 hidden platform trials, a single no-platform probe trial was conducted, followed by 8 trials during which the platform was visible (cued-navigation). The FAS group traveled further than controls to navigate to the hidden platform during training. During the probe trial, controls navigated more directly to the platform region and persisted in searching where the platform had been more than the FAS group. Cued-navigation was comparable in both groups, suggesting that group differences in place learning were not attributable to visual-motor or motivational deficits in the FAS subjects. This pattern of impaired place learning and spared cued-navigation is similar to that reported in rats exposed to ethanol during periods of prenatal or early postnatal brain growth, as well as in animals with hippocampal damage.
我们采用了计算机化（虚拟）莫里斯水迷宫任务（VMWT），来测量8名被诊断为胎儿酒精综合征（FAS）的青少年男性（9.5 - 16.5岁）的位置学习和线索导航能力。8名年龄和种族匹配且无产前酒精暴露史的青少年男性作为对照。参与者被训练根据一组四个明显的迷宫外部线索，导航到固定位置的隐藏平台。经过20次隐藏平台试验后，进行一次无平台探测试验，随后进行8次平台可见的试验（线索导航）。在训练过程中，FAS组比对照组在导航到隐藏平台时走得更远。在探测试验中，对照组比FAS组更直接地导航到平台区域，并持续在平台曾经所在的位置进行搜索。两组的线索导航能力相当，这表明FAS受试者在位置学习方面的组间差异并非归因于视觉运动或动机缺陷。这种位置学习受损而线索导航保留的模式，与产前或产后早期脑发育期间暴露于乙醇的大鼠以及海马体损伤动物中所报告的模式相似。
