Abstract
The delayed-matching-to-place (DMP) dry maze test is a variant of DMP water maze (Steele and Morris, 1999; Faizi et al., 2012) which measures spatial working/episodic-like learning and memory that depends on both hippocampal and cortical functions (Wang and Morris, 2010; Euston et al., 2012). Using this test we can detect normal aging related spatial working memory decline, as well as trauma induced working memory deficits. Furthermore, we recently reported that fractionated whole brain irradiation does not affect working memory in mice (Feng et al., 2016). Here we describe the experimental setup and procedures of this behavioral test.
Keywords: DMP dry maze, Working memory, Behavior, Mouse
Background
The reference-memory water maze (RMW) was originally used to measure spatial reference memory in rats. In this task animals are trained to find a hidden platform in a fixed location under opaque water by using distal clues outside of the water maze (Morris, 1981). Over the years it has evolved into various tasks, that allow probe trials, over training, reverse learning and an on-demand platform (Morris et al., 1982; Morris et al., 1990; Spooner et al., 1994; Lipp and Wolfer, 1998). Later the Morris lab developed a delayed matching-to-place (DMP) water maze that requires frequently updated, ‘delayed’ memory of escape locations in an unchanging environment (Steele and Morris, 1999). These variations of Morris water maze (MWM) are widely used in the neuroscience field to study spatial cognitive functions that involve different brain regions in both rats and mice (Vorhees and Williams, 2006). The main concern for these tests is that forced swimming might induce stress for animals (Vorhees and Williams, 2014). To exclude this limitation, Faizi et al. (2012) designed a dry maze based on the principles of the DMP water maze. The DMP dry maze is believed to measure the same working/episodic-like memory as the DMP water maze with a less intense test paradigm for both the experimenter and test subjects.
Materials and Reagents
Equipment
Software
Procedure
Note: To be more efficient we carried out the experiment in a paired way (Figure 3B).
Data analysis
Notes
Acknowledgments
This protocol was used in our previous study to measure working memory performance in mice (Feng et al., 2016). This work was supported by NIH grants R01 CA133216 and R01 CA213441 to SR.
References
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