Place and Response Learning of Rats in a Morris Water Maze: Differential Effects of Fimbria Fornix and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions

doi:10.1006/nlme.2000.3962

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Volume 75, Issue 2, March 2001, Pages 164-178

https://doi.org/10.1006/nlme.2000.3962 Get rights and content

Abstract

The question examined in this study is concerned with a possible functional dissociation between the hippocampal formation and the prefrontal cortex in spatial navigation. Wistar rats with hippocampal damage (inflicted by a bilateral lesion of the fimbria fornix), rats with damage to the medial prefrontal cortex, and control-operated rats were examined for their performance in either one of two different spatial tasks in a Morris water maze, a place learning task (requiring a locale system), or a response learning task (requiring a taxon system). Performance of the classical place learning (allocentric) task was found to be impaired in rats with lesions of the fimbria fornix, but not in rats with damage of the medial prefrontal cortex, while the opposite effect was found in the response learning (egocentric) task. These findings are indicative of a double functional dissociation of these two brain regions with respect to the two different forms of spatial navigation. When the place learning task was modified by relocating the platform, the impairment in animals with fimbria fornix lesions was even more pronounced than before, while the performance of animals with medial prefrontal cortex lesions was similar to that of their controls. When the task was again modified by changing the hidden platform for a clearly visible one (visual cue task), the animals with fimbria fornix lesions had, at least initially, shorter latencies than their controls. By contrast, in the animals with medial prefrontal cortex damage this change led to a slight increase in escape latency.

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^☆: This research was supported by a Leonardo da Vinci training placement grant from FORBITEC (Associação para a formação técnica em biotecnologia) to Marta P. Moita. The authors thank Henk Stoffels for preparing the lesion reconstruction figures.

^f2: Address correspondence and reprint requests to Jan P. C. de Bruin, The Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Meibergdreef 33, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 20 6961006. E-mail: [email protected].

¹: Current address: Instituto Gulbenkian Cieěencia, 2781 Oeiras Codex, Portugal.

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Regular ArticlePlace and Response Learning of Rats in a Morris Water Maze: Differential Effects of Fimbria Fornix and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions☆

Abstract

Behavioural Brain Research

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Learning and Motivation

The Journal of Neuroscience Methods

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Experimental Neurology

Comparison of the effects of neonatal and adult medial prefrontal cortex lesions on food hoarding and spatial delayed alternation

Behavioural Brain Research

Spatial cognitive maps: Differential role of parietal cortex and hippocampal formation

Behavioral Neuroscience

Allocentric and egocentric information processing in the hippocampal formation of the behaving primate

Psychobiology

Double dissociation of egocentric and allocentric space following medial prefrontal and parietal cortex lesions in the rat

Behavioral Neuroscience

Regular Article
Place and Response Learning of Rats in a Morris Water Maze: Differential Effects of Fimbria Fornix and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions☆