Method and device for reinforcing spatial memory of water maze laboratory animal

Abstract

The invention provides a method and a device for enhancing spatial memory of water maze test animal. The method comprises a water tank for animal swimming and a platform arranged in the water, a camera and a computer system. The invention is characterized in that the method also comprises a visual reference system; the visual reference system arranges a septum above the surrounding of the water tank to isolate interference from outside; the visual reference system also arranges a plurality of fixed pictures on the internal side of the septum as memory reference of the animal and the fixed picture is contrast with the color of the septum. By building the water maze standard visual reference system, the invention ensures that the test animal can avoid interference from outside in the process of swimming, meanwhile, when the test animal swims in the water tank, the fixed picture in the system as the visual reference of the animal is good for enhancing spatial memory ability of the animal and reducing system error of a plurality of repeated tests. The test result shows that the invention can significantly enhance spatial memory of a rat in the water maze test and ensures that the spatial memory can maintain a longer time.

Description

【Technical field】 [0001] The invention relates to an animal behavior experiment in the field of life sciences, in particular to a method and a device for enhancing the spatial memory of experimental animals in the Morris water maze experiment. 【Background technique】 [0002] The Morris water maze test was designed by Richard Morris in 1981 and applied to the study of the brain mechanism of learning and memory. It has become an important experimental method for judging animal learning and memory for more than 20 years. It has been widely used in neurophysiology and neuropsychology in recent years. , neuropharmacology, geriatrics and other research fields. The water maze experiment is based on forcing animals to swim in a pool, and the animals find a platform set in the water to test the animals' ability to learn and remember spatial position and orientation. Since the water maze tests the animal's sense of spatial position and orientation, the animal's perception and memory ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The surroundings of the water tank are completely open, and animals can only use the objects around the water tank as reference objects, even the experimenter as reference objects, and these reference objects are not stable, and the random displacement of reference objects will inevitably affect the spatial memory of experimental animals. Formation has an impact, and the water maze experiment requires repeated measurements, the instability of the reference object will cause a large system error, which directly affects the rigor of the experimental results

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