Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
Behav Neurosci, Volume 117, Issue 6, p.1353-62 (2003)Keywords:
Animals, Cholinergic Fibers, Cues, Fornix, Brain, Hippocampus, Male, Maze Learning, Memory, Psychomotor Performance, Rats, Rats, Long-Evans, Space PerceptionAbstract:
<p>Fornix-transected and sham-operated rats were trained on radial maze cue tasks in which the relative positions of the cues were either fixed (F condition) or varied (V condition) across trials. Proximal and distal visual stimuli were used in 2 different experiments. With proximal stimuli, fornix-transected rats were transiently impaired in the V condition and performed as well as controls in the F condition. However, using extramaze stimuli, fornix-transected rats were severely impaired in the V condition but performed normally in the F condition. According to histological analyses, performance on these cue tasks varied along with the extent of cholinergic depletion in the hippocampus. At the behavioral level, the location and stability of stimuli's relative positions seemed to have influenced rats' performance.</p>