Abstract
Gene-targeted mice lacking the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 (GluR-A) have deficits in hippocampal CA3–CA1 long-term potentiation. We now report that they showed normal spatial reference learning and memory, both on the hidden platform watermaze task and on an appetitively motivated Y-maze task. In contrast, they showed a specific spatial working memory impairment during tests of non-matching to place on both the Y-maze and an elevated T-maze. In addition, successful watermaze and Y-maze reference memory performance depended on hippocampal function in both wild-type and mutant mice; bilateral hippocampal lesions profoundly impaired performance on both tasks, to a similar extent in both groups. These results suggest that different forms of hippocampus-dependent spatial memory involve different aspects of neural processing within the hippocampus.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a European Union (E.U.) Framework V grant (QLG 3-CT-1999-01022). The authors would like to thank G. Daubney for assistance with the histology.
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Reisel, D., Bannerman, D., Schmitt, W. et al. Spatial memory dissociations in mice lacking GluR1. Nat Neurosci 5, 868–873 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn910
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn910
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