Effects of medial septal electrolytic and immunotoxic lesions on place and response learning of rats in the Morris water maze

37th Congress of IUPS (Birmingham, UK) (2013) Proc 37th IUPS, PCC157

Poster Communications: Effects of medial septal electrolytic and immunotoxic lesions on place and response learning of rats in the Morris water maze

L. Kruashvili1, D. Manana1, G. Beselia1

1. I.Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia.

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In this experiment the ability of medial septal electrolytic, selective ACh lesioned (by immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin) and sham-operated rats, to learn the location of a visible, as well as submerged platform in a water maze was investigated. A total of 36 male Wistar rats were used in the study. Experimental protocol was approved by Animal Studies Committee of I. Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine and were in accordance with the principles of laboratory animal care. The size and location of the electrolytic lesions were determined by microscopic examination of serial coronal sections (25 µm) stained with cresyl violet. The immunotoxic lesions of MS were verified by observing decreased Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) staining of the MS and hippocampal sections. The rats’ responses in the competition test were classified as either cue or place directed, based on the swim path for those trials. Sham-operated rats acquired both the visible and hidden platform versions of the task, but when required to choose between the spatial location they had learned and the visible platform in a new location, majority of them swam first to the old spatial location. The medial septal electrolytic lesioned rats acquired the visible platform version of the water maze task but failed to learn the platform location in space. When the visible platform was moved to a new location they often swam directly to it. The medial septal selective ACh lesioned rats, as well as sham-operated, acquired the platform location in space. Sham-operated and selective ACh lesioned rats identified as place responders, had significantly more accurate searches during hidden platform training, providing additional evidence of their effective use of a place learning strategy rather than medial septal electrolytic lesioned rats. These findings suggest that the septo-hippocampal system is essential for accurate spatial learning and suggest its role in processing information about the spatial environment, but deficits observed after septal electrolytic lesions cannot be accounted solely to the loss of hippocampal ACh and raised the unexpected possibility that hippocampal ACh is not essential for all types of hippocampal-dependent memory.



Where applicable, experiments conform with Society ethical requirements.

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