Spatial Memory of Heterozygous Staggerer (Rora(+)/Rora(sg)) Versus Normal (Rora(+)/Rora(+)) Mice During Aging.

J. Caston (1) , C. Chianale (2) , J. Mariani (3)

1 PSY.CO - Psychologie et Neurosciences de la Cognition
2 IGR - Institut Gustave Roussy
3 NPA - Neurobiologie des processus adaptatifs

Heterozygous staggerer mice (Rora+/Rorasg) and control mice (Rora+/Rora+) of the same C57BL/6J strain background were tested in a spontaneous alternation task at 3 to 24 months old. The results demonstrated a decrement in long-term working memory as early as 6 months in Rora+/Rora+ mice and at 3 months in Rora+/Rorasg mice. Previous studies showed that in both cases, neuronal number in the cerebellar cortex was normal (Doulazmi et al. [1999]). This suggests that age-dependent decrease in long-term working memory would be due to fine structural or biochemical changes preceding neuronal death in the cerebellum. Such subtle changes would occur more precociously in Rora+/Rorasg than in Rora+/Rora+ mice. Also, short-term working memory was preserved in Rora+/Rora+ mice as old as 24 months, but was impaired in 6-month-old Rora+/Rorasg mice.

Mots clés: Aging; spontaneous alternation; spatial memory; cerebellum; staggerer mutant mouse.; staggerer mutant mouse

Domaines: Sciences cognitives

J. Caston, C. Chianale, J. Mariani. Spatial Memory of Heterozygous Staggerer (Rora(+)/Rora(sg)) Versus Normal (Rora(+)/Rora(+)) Mice During Aging.. Behav Genet., 2004, 34, pp.319-324. ⟨10.1023/B:BEGE.0000017875.78571.a6⟩. ⟨hal-00077644⟩