Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS
Volume 334, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108579
Keywords
Spatial learning; Spatial memory; Cognitive testing; Behavioral testing; Barnes maze; Morris water maze; Hippocampus; Place-cells; Grid-cells; Spatial resolution; Exploration strategy; Exploration pattern
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Background: The Morris water maze (MWM) and the Barnes maze (BM) are among the most widely-used paradigms for assessing spatial learning in rodents, with specific advantages and disadvantages for each apparatus. Compared with the intense water-related stress exerted during the MWM, the BM exhibits a milder light-induced stress, while suffering from biasing animals towards non-spatial strategies such as serial search, a heuristic non-spatial search strategy. To overcome this problem, we have developed a modified Barnes maze (MBM) apparatus that recapitulates natural environments more accurately without inducing undesirable exploration strategy bias. New method: Apparatus. A circular 122 cm-wide table with 40 randomly placed holes. One target hole is leading to an escape chamber. Task. Three target locations were examined, varying in their distance from the center. C57BL6/j male mice were given three trials per day to find the target. Following acquisition, a probe test was performed by removing the escape chamber. Results: Spatial-encoding-depended reduction in latency to reach the target was observed, along with improvement in path efficiency with test progress. Mice tested with peripheral and distal targets outperformed mice tested with a central target. A robust exploration pattern was identified in the probe test. Comparison with existing method: The MBM mimics natural environment to a higher degree of accuracy than the BM, without eliciting bias towards non-spatial searching strategies. Conclusions: Spatial learning in the MBM is a target-location sensitive process, providing flexibility in task difficulty. Along with overcoming biases towards non-spatial strategies, the MBM represents an improvement over the well-validated BM.
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