Characterizing spatial extinction in an abbreviated version of the Barnes maze

Vargas-López, Viviana; Lamprea, Marisol; Múnera, Alejandro

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.08.002

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The sharpness of the bell-shaped curve around hole 0 reflects the accuracy with which rats remember the spatial location of the escape hole in the absence of the tunnel. A similar bell-.shaped distribution of exploratory activity has been reported in 66-day old male Wistar rats in the Barnes maze (Vargas-Lopez et al, 2011). This accuracy deteriorates with age and to a lesser extent, with the time elapsed since the end of the training period.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…In a previous study in middle-aged (12 months) SD females, we observed no changes in learning ability or spatial memory as compared with young (2 months) counterparts (Morel et al, unpublished). The MWM probe trial, which measures specifically the spatial component of target-finding, has no counterpart in the Barnes maze, although more recently, removal of the escape box has been used to assess spatial memory extinction (Vargas-Lopez et al, 2011). By removing the escape box at the end of the training period we introduced the PT in our variant of the test, which enabled us to assess memory-dependent and independent parameters as well as recent (PT1) and longer-term (PT2) retention of spatial memory, whose magnitude is proportional to the inverse of spatial memory extinction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modified Barnes maze protocol used in this study was based in part on a previously reported procedure (Vargas-Lopez et al, 2011). It consists of an elevated (108 cm to the floor) black acrylic circular platform, 122 cm in diameter, containing twenty holes around the periphery.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats

et al. 2015

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The hippocampus, a medial temporal lobe structure necessary for the formation of spatial memory, is particularly affected by both normal and pathologic aging. In previous studies, we observed a significant age-related increase in dopaminergic neuron loss in the hypothalamus and the substantia nigra of female rats, which becomes more conspicuous at extreme ages. Here, we extend our studies by assessing spatial memory 4–6 months old (young), 26 months old (old) and 29–32 months old (senile) Sprague–Dawley female rats as well as the age-related histopathological changes in their dorsal hippocampus. Age changes in spatial memory performance were assessed with a modified version of the Barnes maze test. We employed two probe trials (PT), one and five days after training, respectively, in order to evaluate learning ability as well as short-term and longer-term spatial memory retention. A set of relevant hippocampal cell markers was also quantitated in the animals by means of an unbiased stereological approach. The results revealed that old rats perform better than senile rats in acquisition trials and young rats perform better than both aging groups. However, during short-term PT both aging groups showed a preserved spatial memory while in longer-term PT, spatial memory showed deterioration in both aged groups. Morphological analysis showed a marked decrease (94–97%) in doublecortin neuron number in the dentate gyrus in both aged groups and a reduction in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cell number in the stratum radiatum of aging rats. Astroglial process length and branching complexity decreased in the aged rats. We conclude that while target-seeking activity and learning ability decrease in aged females, spatial memory only declines in the longer-term tests. The reduction in neuroblast number and astroglial arborescence complexity in the dorsal hippocampus are likely to play a role in the cognitive deficits of aging rats.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats

et al. 2015

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“…Second, the extinction of appetitive consummatory behavior acquired by simple exposure to the reward (typically sucrose solutions) has also served as a model to study incentive loss, especially in relation to drug effects (Flaherty, 1996;Kamenetzky et al, 2009;Norris et al, 2008). Third, in escape conditioning situations (e.g., Morris water maze, Barnes maze) the animal learns to find a goal or safe location, such as a submerged platform or an escape box (Morris, 1981;Vargas-López et al, 2011). These tasks have a negative reinforcement component (i.e., escaping from the water or lighted surface), but they also have a reward component (i.e., safety time in the platform or in the escape box).…”

Section: Appetitive Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the animal has learned the task, extinction trials can be introduced in which the goal is removed. The behavioral consequences of escape extinction are measured in terms of immobility (Huston et al, 2009) or search behavior (Vargas-López et al, 2011). Fourth, animals also learn to escape a location in which a reward has failed to occur-a phenomenon traditionally called escape from frustration (Daly, 1974).…”

Section: Appetitive Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral neuroscience of psychological pain

Papini

Fuchs

Torres

2015

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Assessment of spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task in rodents—methodological consideration

Gaweł

Gibuła

Marszałek‐Grabska

et al. 2018

Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol

206

149

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Among the methods valuable for assessing spatial learning and memory impairments in rodents, the Barnes maze (BM) task deserves special attention. It is based on the assumption that the animal placed into the aversive environment should learn and remember the location of an escape box located below the surface of the platform. Different phases of the task allow to measure spatial learning, memory retrieval, and cognitive flexibility. Herein, we summarize current knowledge about the BM procedure, its variations and critical parameters measured in the task. We highlight confounding factors which should be taken into account when conducting BM task, discussing briefly its advantages and disadvantages. We then propose an extended version of the BM protocol which allows to measure different aspects of spatial learning and memory in rodents. We believe that this review will help to standardize the BM methodology across the laboratories and eventually make the results comparable.

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Characterizing spatial extinction in an abbreviated version of the Barnes maze

Cited by 20 publications

References 39 publications

Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats

Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats

Behavioral neuroscience of psychological pain

Assessment of spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task in rodents—methodological consideration

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