An evaluation of spatial information processing in aged rats.
An evaluation of spatial information processing in aged rats.
复制标题
老年大鼠空间信息处理的评估。
DOI：
10.1037//0735-7044.101.1.3
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发表时间：
1987
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Gallagher,M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rapp,PR;Rosenberg,RA;Gallagher,M
采用Morris水迷宫实验，研究了青年大鼠、中年大鼠和老年大鼠的空间学习能力。在实验1中，Long-Evans蒙头大鼠被训练寻找隐藏在水迷宫中的水下逃生平台。在这一阶段的测试中，与年轻或中年受试者相比，老年大鼠表现出习得缺陷。然而，随着持续的训练，所有年龄组最终都达到了相当的渐进水平。实验1的后续测试显示，经过最初的训练后，老年大鼠在学习新的逃跑地点或定位可见的、有提示的逃跑平台的能力方面没有受到损害。为了确定实验1中观察到的年龄相关损伤的基础，我们在实验2中对幼年大鼠和老年大鼠进行了初步测试，以确定它们在水迷宫中寻找线索逃离平台的能力。在这一阶段的测试中，年轻大鼠和老年大鼠的逃避潜伏期都迅速下降到相同的渐进水平。随后的分析表明，在线索训练之后，年轻的被试在训练期间对平台所在的测试设备区域表现出明显的空间偏差。相比之下，老年大鼠没有空间偏见。在实验2中，每个被试使用一个新的水下平台位置继续训练。在这些地方训练试验中，老年大鼠的逃避潜伏期比年轻大鼠长。与年轻的对照组相比，这些损伤还伴随着老年大鼠缺乏空间偏差。综上所述，这些研究结果表明，水迷宫表现中的年龄相关损伤反映了老年大鼠利用空间信息能力的特定缺陷。
The spatial learning abilities of young, middle-age, and senescent rats were investigated in two experiments using several versions of the Morris water maze task. In Experiment 1, Long-Evans hooded rats were trained to find a submerged escape platform hidden within the water maze. During this phase of testing, aged rats exhibited acquisition deficits compared with either young or middle-age subjects. With continued training, however, all age groups eventually achieved comparable asymptotic levels of performance. Subsequent testing in Experiment 1 revealed that following original training, aged rats were not impaired in learning a novel escape location or in their ability to locate a visible, cued escape platform. In an attempt to identify the basis of the age-related impairments observed in Experiment 1, naive young and aged rats in Experiment 2 were initially tested for their ability to locate a cued escape platform in the water maze. During this phase of testing, the escape latencies of both young and aged rats rapidly decreased to equivalent asymptotic levels. Subsequent analyses revealed that following cue training, young subjects exhibit a significant spatial bias for the region of the testing apparatus where the platform was positioned during training. In contrast, aged rats showed no spatial bias. Training was continued in Experiment 2 using a novel submerged platform location for each subject. During these place training trials, the escape latencies of senescent rats were longer than those of young subjects. These impairments were also accompanied by a lack of spatial bias among aged rats relative to young control subjects. In combination, the results of these investigations indicate that age-related impairments in water maze performance reflect a specific deficit in the ability of aged rats to utilize spatial information.