Abstract
The water maze task can be used to assess sensory motor and cognitive function in rodents. When properly employed, this task can behaviorally assess acquisition of a spatial search strategy, as well as working and reference memory. The following section uses research on age-related, cognitive decline to illustrate the methods employed and highlight areas that can, if not properly controlled, confound a study.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Grundman, M., Petersen, R. C., Ferris, S. H., Thomas, R. G., Aisen, P. S., Bennett, D. A., Foster, N. L., Jack, C. R., Jr., Galasko, D. R., Doody, R., et al. (2004) Mild cognitive impairment can be distinguished from Alzheimer disease and normal aging for clinical trials Arch Neurol 61, 59–66.
Petersen, R. C. (2004) Mild cognitive impairment as a diagnostic entity J Intern Med 256, 183–194.
Petersen, R. C., Smith, G. E., Waring, S. C., Ivnik, R. J., Tangalos, E. G. and Kokmen, E. (1999) Mild cognitive impairment: clinical characterization and outcome Arch Neurol 56, 303–308.
Ritchie, K. and Touchon, J. (2000) Mild cognitive impairment: conceptual basis and current nosological status Lancet 355, 225–228.
Winblad, B., Palmer, K., Kivipelto, M., Jelic, V., Fratiglioni, L., Wahlund, L. O., Nordberg, A., Backman, L., Albert, M., Almkvist, O., et al. (2004) Mild cognitive impairment – beyond controversies, towards a consensus: report of the International Working Group on Mild Cognitive Impairment J Intern Med 256, 240–246.
Goh, J. O. and Park, D. C. (2009) Neuroplasticity and cognitive aging: the scaffolding theory of aging and cognition Restor Neurol Neurosci 27, 391–403.
Wenk, G. L. and Barnes, C. A. (2000) Regional changes in the hippocampal density of AMPA and NMDA receptors across the lifespan of the rat Brain Res 885, 1–5.
Mabry, T. R., McCarty, R., Gold, P. E. and Foster, T. C. (1996) Age and stress history effects on spatial performance in a swim task in Fischer-344 rats Neurobiol Learn Mem 66, 1–10.
Lindner, M. D. and Gribkoff, V. K. (1991) Relationship between performance in the Morris water task, visual acuity, and thermoregulatory function in aged F-344 rats Behav Brain Res 45, 45–55.
Brown, R. W. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2000) Similarities in the development of place and cue navigation by rats in a swimming pool Dev Psychobiol 37, 238–245.
Szuran, T., Zimmermann, E. and Welzl, H. (1994) Water maze performance and hippocampal weight of prenatally stressed rats Behav Brain Res 65, 153–155.
Buchanan, J. B., Sparkman, N. L., Chen, J. and Johnson, R. W. (2008) Cognitive and neuroinflammatory consequences of mild repeated stress are exacerbated in aged mice Psychoneuroendocrinology 33, 755–765.
Seif, G. I., Clements, K. M. and Wainwright, P. E. (2004) Effects of distraction and stress on delayed matching-to-place performance in aged rats Physiol Behav 82, 477–487.
Harburger, L. L., Nzerem, C. K. and Frick, K. M. (2007) Single enrichment variables differentially reduce age-related memory decline in female mice Behav Neurosci 121, 679–688.
Mora, F., Segovia, G. and del Arco, A. (2007) Aging, plasticity and environmental enrichment: structural changes and neurotransmitter dynamics in several areas of the brain Brain Res Rev 55, 78–88.
Van Dam, D., Lenders, G. and De Deyn, P. P. (2006) Effect of Morris water maze diameter on visual-spatial learning in different mouse strains Neurobiol Learn Mem 85, 164–172.
van der Staay, F. J. (2000) Effects of the size of the morris water tank on spatial discrimination learning in the CFW1 mouse Physiol Behav 68, 599–602.
Frick, K. M., Baxter, M. G., Markowska, A. L., Olton, D. S. and Price, D. L. (1995) Age-related spatial reference and working memory deficits assessed in the water maze Neurobiol Aging 16, 149–160.
Bizon, J. L., LaSarge, C. L., Montgomery, K. S., McDermott, A. N., Setlow, B. and Griffith, W. H. (2009) Spatial reference and working memory across the lifespan of male Fischer 344 rats Neurobiol Aging 30, 646–655.
Lindner, M. D., Balch, A. H. and VanderMaelen, C. P. (1992) Short forms of the “reference-” and “working-memory” Morris water maze for assessing age-related deficits Behav Neural Biol 58, 94–102.
McDonald, R. J., Hong, N. S., Craig, L. A., Holahan, M. R., Louis, M. and Muller, R. U. (2005) NMDA-receptor blockade by CPP impairs post-training consolidation of a rapidly acquired spatial representation in rat hippocampus Eur J Neurosci 22, 1201–1213.
Steele, R. J. and Morris, R. G. (1999) Delay-dependent impairment of a matching-to-place task with chronic and intrahippocampal infusion of the NMDA-antagonist D-AP5 Hippocampus 9, 118–136.
Foster, T. C., Sharrow, K. M., Masse, J. R., Norris, C. M. and Kumar, A. (2001) Calcineurin links Ca2+ dysregulation with brain aging J Neurosci 21, 4066–4073.
Spooner, R. I., Thomson, A., Hall, J., Morris, R. G. and Salter, S. H. (1994) The Atlantis platform: a new design and further developments of Buresova’s on-demand platform for the water maze Learn Mem 1, 203–211.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Guidi, M., Foster, T.C. (2012). Behavioral Model for Assessing Cognitive Decline. In: Kobeissy, F. (eds) Psychiatric Disorders. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 829. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-458-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-458-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-457-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-458-2
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols