We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Effects of hippocampal cholinergic deafferentation on learning strategy selection in a visible platform version of the water maze.
- Authors
Bizon, J.L.; Han, J.-S.; Hudon, C.; Gallagher, M.
- Abstract
Recent evidence has suggested that the relative levels of acetylcholine (ACh) between brain structures may be an important factor in the choice of behavioral strategy in settings in which either hippocampal or dorsal striatal brain systems can be employed both effectively and independently (McIntyre and Gold. 1999. Soc Neurosci Abs 25:1388). The current investigation used the neurotoxin 192 IgG-saporin to deplete the hippocampus of ACh selectively, while leaving ACh in other brain regions, including dorsal striatum, intact. Rats were then trained on a version of the Morris water maze, in which behavioral strategies attributed to the hippocampus and dorsal striatum are placed in direct competition. It was predicted that rats with hippocampal ACh depletion would display a cue bias. Contrary to this prediction, depleting hippocampal ACh did not bias against and, in fact, promoted use of a hippocampal place strategy in this task, as indicated by choice in competition tests and performance on hidden platform training trials. These data add to a growing literature demonstrating that the septohippocampal cholinergic system is not required for accurate spatial learning and suggest a complex role for basal forebrain projections in processing information about the spatial environment. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
- Publication
Hippocampus, 2003, Vol 13, Issue 6, p676
- ISSN
1050-9631
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/hipo.10113