抄録
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of mazes, multiple maze and 8-arm radial maze, in relation to age and sex difference, onthe acquisition of spatial learning and memory in mice, in addition to estimating memory retention.
Three groups of male and female ddY mice were used: 4 weeks old (Young group), 7 weeks old (Adult group), and 82 weeks old (Aged group).Spatial learning and memory were measured by performance in both mazes.
Differences between search times and the error rate study in all groups could not be detected in the multiple maze acquisition. Furthermore, a study using a simplified multiple maze showed that there was no significant difference between groups during memory retention tasks.
As for search times using an 8-arm radial maze, the aged group showed significantly slower time compared to other groups, and the aged female group showed significantly slower time compared to the aged malegroup, but these results were not in accordance with the error rate. However, studies using the 8-arm radial maze could show data that aged groups and female mice experienced decreased memory retention compared to other groups.
The present study confirmed that an 8-arm radial maze could be helpful in the retention of spatial learning and memory.
