Age-related deterioration of ability of acquisition in memory and learning in senescence accelerated mouse: SAM-P/8 as an animal model of disturbances in recent memory.

Memory, learning and behavior of senescence accelerated mouse (SAM-P/8) were investigated by using passive avoidance response, T-maze and open field and the findings were compared with those from senescence resistant mouse (SAM-R/1 control). SAM-P/8 mice showed a remarkable age-related deterioration in ability of memory and learning in passive avoidance response. This age-related memory and learning deficit was linked to a deterioration in the ability of acquisition and was not due to impairment in the ability of retention and hyperactivity, as observed in the open field. In the alternation T-maze tests, SAM-P/8 showed as high a rate of alternations as did the SAM-R/1 and in the T-maze avoidance tests, SAM-P/8 also showed as intact a memory ability as seen in the SAM-R/1, despite a memory deficit in the passive avoidance response. Thus, SAM-P/8 may prove to be a pertinent model for researching mechanisms related to the memory deficit seen in senile humans.