Excitotoxic lesions of the rostral thalamic reticular nucleus do not affect the performance of spatial learning and memory tasks in the rat

Rats with cytotoxic lesions of the rostral pole of the thalamic reticular nucleus were compared with surgical control animals on a series of spatial learning and memory tests. While evidence was found for an initial, transient impairment on forced-choice alternation in a T-maze, this rapidly disappeared, and overall performance was unaffected. Subsequent experiments found no evidence that lesions of the rostral reticular nucleus affected the acquisition or performance of tests in the radial arm maze and the Morris water maze. Thus, it appears that the rostral pole of the thalamic reticular nucleus often does not play a necessary role in the performance of tests of spatial learning and memory, in spite of its interconnections with other regions that are required for normal spatial memory.