Cognition – Spontaneous Alternation
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Spontaneous alternation in a Y- or T-maze is an ethologically-based test that depends on rodents’ innate tendency to explore a novel environment, and thus does not involve either positive or negative reinforcement. When tested over repeated trials, rodents exhibit a tendency to alternate between maze arms, thereby providing a measure of short term spatial memory. Mice with compromised short-term memory function exhibit decreased spontaneous alternation. The spontaneous alternation test has been shown to be sensitive to aging, amnestic drugs and altered hippocampal cholinergic function.
APP/PS1 mice, a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease, are significantly more active compared to their wild type (WT) littermates, as determined by the total number of arm entries.
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APP/PS1 mice exhibit a short term memory deficit as indicated by a significantly decreased number of alternations.
