Abstract
The Y-maze can be used to assess short term memory in mice. Spontaneous alternation, a measure of spatial working memory, can be assessed by allowing mice to explore all three arms of the maze and is driven by an innate curiosity of rodents to explore previously unvisited areas. A mouse with intact working memory, and hence intact prefrontal cortical functions, will remember the arms previously visited and show a tendency to enter a less recently visited arm. Spatial reference memory, which is underlined by the hippocampus, can also be tested by placing the test mice into the Y-maze with one arm closed off during training. After an inter-trial interval of for example 1 h, the mouse should remember which arm it has not explored previously and should visit this arm more often. This chapter describes the pre-test conditions, the materials required and the protocol for conducting and interpreting the results of these two related tests.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Farooqui AA (2017) Neurochemical aspects of Alzheimer’s disease: risk factors, pathogenesis, biomarkers, and potential treatment strategies, 1st edn. Academic Press, New York (June 14, 2017). ISBN-10: 0128099372
Webster SJ, Bachstetter AD, Nelson PT, Schmitt FA, Van Eldik LJ (2014) Using mice to model Alzheimer’s dementia: an overview of the clinical disease and the preclinical behavioral changes in 10 mouse models. Front Genet 5:88. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2014.00088
Lalonde R (2002) The neurobiological basis of spontaneous alternation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 26(1):91–104
Swonger AK, Rech RH (1972) Serotonergic and cholinergic involvement in habituation of activity and spontaneous alternation of rats in a Y maze. J Comp Physiol Psychol 81(3):509–522
Sarnyai Z, Sibille EL, Pavlides C, Fenster RJ, McEwen BS, Toth M (2000) Impaired hippocampal-dependent learning and functional abnormalities in the hippocampus in mice lacking serotonin (1A) receptors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97(26):14731–14736
Conrad CD, Galea LA, Kuroda Y, McEwen BS (1996) Chronic stress impairs rat spatial memory on the Y maze, and this effect is blocked by tianeptine pretreatment. Behav Neurosci 110(6):1321–1334
Morley JE, Farr SA, Kumar VB, Armbrecht HJ (2012) The SAMP8 mouse: a model to develop therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Pharm Des 18(8):1123–1130
Conrad CD, Lupien SJ, Thanasoulis LC, McEwen BS (1997) The effects of type I and type II corticosteroid receptor agonists on exploratory behavior and spatial memory in the Y-maze. Brain Res 759(1):76–83
Wang S, Yu Y, Feng Y, Zou F, Zhang X, Huang J et al (2016) Protective effect of the orientin on noise-induced cognitive impairments in mice. Behav Brain Res 296:290–300
Kim D, Kim CY, Koo H, Heo Y, Cheon K (2017) A novel animal model simulating the beginning of combat exposure. Neuroimmunomodulation 24(4–5):211–219. https://doi.org/10.1159/000481914 [Epub ahead of print]
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Kraeuter, AK., Guest, P.C., Sarnyai, Z. (2019). The Y-Maze for Assessment of Spatial Working and Reference Memory in Mice. In: Guest, P. (eds) Pre-Clinical Models. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1916. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8994-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-8993-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-8994-2
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols