The Conjoint Importance of the Hippocampus and Anterior Thalamic Nuclei for Allocentric Spatial Learning: Evidence from a Disconnection Study in the Rat

A disconnection procedure was used to test whether the hippocampus and anterior thalamic nuclei form functional components of the same spatial memory system. Unilateral excitotoxic lesions were placed in the anterior thalamic (AT) nuclei and hippocampus (HPC) in either the same (AT-HPC Ipsi group) o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2001-09, Vol.21 (18), p.7323-7330
Main Authors: Warburton, E. Clea, Baird, Alison, Morgan, Angela, Muir, Janice L, Aggleton, John P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anterior Thalamic Nuclei - pathology
Anterior Thalamic Nuclei - physiology
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Brain Injuries - chemically induced
Brain Injuries - pathology
Functional Laterality - physiology
Hippocampus - pathology
Hippocampus - physiology
Male
Maze Learning - physiology
Memory - physiology
Microinjections
N-Methylaspartate
Nerve Net - physiology
Rats
Space Perception - physiology
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Summary:A disconnection procedure was used to test whether the hippocampus and anterior thalamic nuclei form functional components of the same spatial memory system. Unilateral excitotoxic lesions were placed in the anterior thalamic (AT) nuclei and hippocampus (HPC) in either the same (AT-HPC Ipsi group) or contralateral (AT-HPC Contra group) hemispheres of rats. The behavioral effects of these combined lesions were compared in several spatial memory tasks sensitive to bilateral hippocampal lesions. In all of the tasks tested, T-maze alternation, radial arm maze, and Morris water maze, those animals with lesions placed in the contralateral hemispheres were more impaired than those animals with lesions in the same hemisphere. These results provide direct support for the notion that the performance of tasks that require spatial memory rely on the operation of the anterior thalamus and hippocampus within an integrated neural network.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-18-07323.2001