Journal article
Influence of hippocampectomy on habituation, exploratory behavior, and spatial memory in rats
Brain research, Vol.1023(1), pp.1-14
2004
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/115948
PMID: 15364013
Abstract
Two frequently cited functions of the hippocampus are mediation of spatial memories and habituation. The present investigation employed head-shake response (HSR) as the habituated behavior in intact and bilaterally hippocampectomized rats. This HSR appears to be minimally influenced by spatial cues. These rats were further tested on two behavioral paradigms that make use of spatial cues, namely open field object exploration, and the Morris water maze. The results indicate that hippocampectomized rats revealed habituation of the HSR, but not to objects within the open field. In agreement with previous reports, hippocampectomized rats were severely impaired both in acquiring and recalling the location of the submerged platform in the Morris water maze task. In a separate experiment independent groups of rats were trained on one of these three paradigms, and tissues were collected from hippocampal, prefrontal, and piriform cortices for the measurement of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) as markers of neural plasticity. There were significant MMP-9 elevations in the prefrontal and piriform cortices of rats tested using the object exploration task, in the prefrontal and hippocampal cortices of rats that solved the Morris water maze task, but minimal MMP changes in any tissues taken from HSR habituated rats. These results question the hypothesis that habituation is solely mediated by the hippocampus in favor of a process that utilizes different brain structures and degrees of neural plasticity dependent upon task requirements.
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Details
- Title
- Influence of hippocampectomy on habituation, exploratory behavior, and spatial memory in rats
- Creators
- John W Wright - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesEric S Murphy - Department of Psychology, University of Alaska Anchorage, Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, United StatesItoro E Elijah - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesKelby L Holtfreter - Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Programs in Neuroscience and Biotechnology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesChris J Davis - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesMikel L Olson - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesKalyani Muhunthan - Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United StatesJoseph W Harding - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, United States
- Publication Details
- Brain research, Vol.1023(1), pp.1-14
- Academic Unit
- Biomedical Sciences, Department of; Psychology, Department of; Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Department of
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Identifiers
- 99900547522201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article