Hyde L A, Hoplight B J, Denenberg V H
Biobehavioral Sciences Graduate Degree Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-4154, USA.
Brain Res. 1998 Mar 2;785(2):236-44. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(97)01417-0.
The conventional land radial-arm maze has several disadvantages, including requiring a complicated automated apparatus, the elimination of odors as cues, and the use of food deprivation. We have created a water version of the maze, based on the principles of the land version, which maintains the advantages and excludes some of the disadvantages. In our maze, BXSB and C57BL/6 mice significantly reduced the number of working and reference memory errors committed over sessions, while NZB mice did not. For each strain, as the working memory 'load' increased during a session, the number of errors increased. However, with practice the BXSB and C57BL/6 strains were able to handle this memory load more effectively. Mice were able to learn the maze without extensive adaptation, training, or testing and they did not exhibit 'chaining'. This maze can also be considered to be an example of a water win-shift task that mice can easily learn. Therefore, the water version of the radial-arm maze can be a simple and useful tool for studying rodent learning and memory.
传统的陆地放射状臂迷宫有几个缺点，包括需要复杂的自动化设备、消除气味线索以及使用食物剥夺法。我们基于陆地迷宫的原理创建了一种水迷宫版本，它保留了优点并排除了一些缺点。在我们的迷宫中，BXSB和C57BL/6小鼠在多个实验阶段中显著减少了工作记忆和参考记忆错误的数量，而NZB小鼠则没有。对于每个品系，随着一个实验阶段中工作记忆“负荷”的增加，错误数量也会增加。然而，通过练习，BXSB和C57BL/6品系能够更有效地应对这种记忆负荷。小鼠无需大量适应、训练或测试就能学会迷宫，并且它们不会表现出“连锁反应”。这种迷宫也可被视为小鼠能够轻松学会的水胜移任务的一个例子。因此，放射状臂水迷宫可以成为研究啮齿动物学习和记忆的一种简单而有用的工具。
