Cognitive impairment is a significant comorbidity of epilepsy. At present, the molecular/cellular mechanisms that underlie these cognitive impairments remain unknown. It seems likely that a complete understanding at the molecular/cellular level will require the use of rodent models. A number of rodent models of epilepsy are used to study cognition in a variety of behavioral tasks. This review p...

In 6 experiments, the performance of male rats in a 12-arm radial maze was examined. The focus of study was the extent to which the spatial location of individual baited maze arms was determined before the rat was exposed to the extramaze visual cues corresponding to the arm, and thereby guided the rat toward the location of baited arms. Such spatial guidance of choice behavior implies a spatia...

Previous studies indicate that the hippocampus is active during exercise, and that neurotrophin expression, receptor density, and survival of dentate gyrus granule cells in the hippocampus can be modified by moderate voluntary exercise. The present study was designed to test the consequences of voluntary exercise on a hippocampal-related behavior. Exercising and control rats were tested on the ...

Effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) [22: 6(n-3)]-fortified Chlorella oil fraction on radial maze performance was studied in aged mice. Male ICR mice aged 9 months were fed a diet containing 2 g DHA-fortified Chlorella oil fraction/100 g diet or normal diet (Control group) for 2 months. Two months after the start of feeding, the mice were tested for learning ability related to 2 types of memory...

The lateral mammillary nuclei are a central structure within the head direction system yet there is still relatively little known about how these nuclei contribute to spatial performance. In the present study, rats with selective neurotoxic lesions of the lateral mammillary nuclei were tested on a working memory task in a radial-arm maze. This task requires animals to distinguish between eight ...