Biomaterial Database

Age-related changes in spontaneous behavior and learning in NMRI mice from maturity to middle age. 1990

Y Lamberty, and A J Gower

University of Louvain, Psychobiology Department, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Spontaneous behavior and learning and memory of 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month-old virgin female NMRI mice were compared. Open field activity and spontaneous alternation in a Y-maze decreased in an age-related manner, reaching a statistical level of significance for the groups aged 9 and 12 months. Spatial learning was highly impaired in 9-and 12-month-old mice in the place version of a Morris-type water maze but not in the cued version of this task. Changes in motor activity, swimming ability or speed did not appear to account for these deficits. In a one-trial passive avoidance, performance was more variable, although a deficit in the oldest age group was clearly evident using a cutoff time of 120 sec. The passive avoidance was not attributable to reduced shock sensitivity. Together, these results suggest that the onset of aging in NMRI mice occurs at the age of 9 and particularly 12 months. NMRI mice of this age could, therefore, represent a viable animal model for the study of cognitive impairments in aging.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008568	Memory	Complex mental function having four distinct phases: (1) memorizing or learning, (2) retention, (3) recall, and (4) recognition. Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory.
D008815	Mice, Inbred Strains	Genetically identical individuals developed from brother and sister matings which have been carried out for twenty or more generations, or by parent x offspring matings carried out with certain restrictions. All animals within an inbred strain trace back to a common ancestor in the twentieth generation.	Inbred Mouse Strains,Inbred Strain of Mice,Inbred Strain of Mouse,Inbred Strains of Mice,Mouse, Inbred Strain,Inbred Mouse Strain,Mouse Inbred Strain,Mouse Inbred Strains,Mouse Strain, Inbred,Mouse Strains, Inbred,Strain, Inbred Mouse,Strains, Inbred Mouse
D009043	Motor Activity	Body movements of a human or an animal as a behavioral phenomenon.	Activities, Motor,Activity, Motor,Motor Activities
D009949	Orientation	Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person.	Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D011939	Mental Recall	The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited.	Recall, Mental
D003463	Cues	Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond.	Cue
D004193	Discrimination Learning	Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli.	Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005106	Exploratory Behavior	The tendency to explore or investigate a novel environment. It is considered a motivation not clearly distinguishable from curiosity.	Curiosity,Novelty-Seeking Behavior,Behavior, Exploratory,Behavior, Novelty-Seeking,Behaviors, Exploratory,Behaviors, Novelty-Seeking,Curiosities,Exploratory Behaviors,Novelty Seeking Behavior,Novelty-Seeking Behaviors
D005260	Female		Females
D000375	Aging	The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.	Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging