The effects of cerebellar damage on maze learning in animals |
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Authors: | R Lalonde C Strazielle |
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Institution: | 1. Service de Neurologie, H?tel-Dieu du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, 3840 St-Urbain, H2W 1T8, Montréal, Québec, Canada 2. Faculté de Médecine (EMI-INSERM 9906), Université de Rouen, France 3. Laboratoire de Pathologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire en Nutrition (EMI-INSERM 0014), Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy I, France 4. Faculté de Médecine, Service de Microscopie Electronique, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France
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Abstract: | The role of the cerebellum in spatial learning has recently been investigated in genetically and non-genetically lesioned animal models, particularly in water mazes, in view of the minimal impact such lesions exert on swimming movements. A dissociation between place and cued learning in the Morris water maze has been observed in several models, including cerebellar mutant mice (Rora(sg), Nna1(pcd-1J), nervous), rats with lesions of either the lateral cerebellar cortex or the dentate nucleus, and rats with selective Purkinje cell loss caused by intracerebroventricular injections of OX-7-saporin, confirming the hypothesis that cerebellar damage may cause a cognitive deficit independently of fine motor control. In addition, the results of hemicerebellectomized rats indicate the probable involvement of the cerebellum in working memory and the procedural aspect of maze learning. The findings of impaired maze learning in cerebellar-lesioned mice and rats are concordant with those of deficient visuospatial functions in patients with cerebellar atrophy. The spatial deficits may be ascribed to altered metabolic activity in cerebellar-related pathways. |
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Keywords: | cerebellum visuospatial organization maze learning regional brain metabolism |
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