Assessment of spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task in rodents—methodological consideration

Among the methods valuable for assessing spatial learning and memory impairments in rodents, the Barnes maze (BM) task deserves special attention. It is based on the assumption that the animal placed into the aversive environment should learn and remember the location of an escape box located below...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology 2019-01, Vol.392 (1), p.1-18
Main Authors: Gawel, Kinga, Gibula, Ewa, Marszalek-Grabska, Marta, Filarowska, Joanna, Kotlinska, Jolanta H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal memory
Animals
Attention task
Behavior, Animal
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cognitive ability
Disease Models, Animal
Humans
Maze Learning
Memory
Memory Disorders
Neurosciences
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Review
Rodentia
Rodents
Spatial discrimination learning
Spatial memory
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Summary:Among the methods valuable for assessing spatial learning and memory impairments in rodents, the Barnes maze (BM) task deserves special attention. It is based on the assumption that the animal placed into the aversive environment should learn and remember the location of an escape box located below the surface of the platform. Different phases of the task allow to measure spatial learning, memory retrieval, and cognitive flexibility. Herein, we summarize current knowledge about the BM procedure, its variations and critical parameters measured in the task. We highlight confounding factors which should be taken into account when conducting BM task, discussing briefly its advantages and disadvantages. We then propose an extended version of the BM protocol which allows to measure different aspects of spatial learning and memory in rodents. We believe that this review will help to standardize the BM methodology across the laboratories and eventually make the results comparable.
ISSN:0028-1298
1432-1912
DOI:10.1007/s00210-018-1589-y