Hippocampus-dependent place learning enables spatial flexibility in C57BL6/N mice

Kleinknecht, Karl R. and Bedenk, Benedikt T. and Kaltwasser, Sebastian F. and Grünecker, Barbara and Yen, Yi-Chun and Czisch, Michael and Wotjak, Carsten T. (2012) Hippocampus-dependent place learning enables spatial flexibility in C57BL6/N mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 6. ISSN 1662-5153

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Abstract

Spatial navigation is a fundamental capability necessary in everyday life to locate food, social partners, and shelter. It results from two very different strategies: (1) place learning which enables for flexible way finding and (2) response learning that leads to a more rigid “route following.” Despite the importance of knockout techniques that are only available in mice, little is known about mice' flexibility in spatial navigation tasks. Here we demonstrate for C57BL6/N mice in a water-cross maze (WCM) that only place learning enables spatial flexibility and relearning of a platform position, whereas response learning does not. This capability depends on an intact hippocampal formation, since hippocampus lesions by ibotenic acid (IA) disrupted relearning. In vivo manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging revealed a volume loss of ≥60% of the hippocampus as a critical threshold for relearning impairments. In particular the changes in the left ventral hippocampus were indicative of relearning deficits. In summary, our findings establish the importance of hippocampus-dependent place learning for spatial flexibility and provide a first systematic analysis on spatial flexibility in mice.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Science Global Plos > Biological Science
Depositing User: Unnamed user with email support@science.globalplos.com
Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2023 07:41
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:56
URI: http://ebooks.manu2sent.com/id/eprint/366

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