25th May, 2016
University of Kansas
Question
Asked 18th May, 2016
Can I use the same rat for testing of learning and memory to assess the effect of aging?
I will look at to the effect of aging on learning and memory in rat (using Morris Water Maze test).
The rat will be performed the testing when they reach the age of 8, 12, 16, 20 months.
Is it possible to use the same rat for testing?
The previous testing (at 8 month age) will interfere the result of the later testing (at 12 or 16, 20 month age) , or not?
or I should separate the rat into 4 group?
What is the minimum of time interval between the two testing (in case of Morris water maze test) can be performed?
Most recent answer
Hello Taratorn:
There are already some good and informative suggestions about the learning and memory testing of mice/rats. From all the readings, I conclude that it is OK to use the same batch of mice for your aging study as well. In my animal studies with mice using Barnes maze, I noticed that whatever training I gave to them, they were able to retain them after 4 months. Another way you can do, get some mice of different ages (4, 8, 12, 16, 20 etc which will be more expensive) and work with them (train) at the same time to avoid any confusion you might have at this time.
Just a different thought. Good luck.
All Answers (13)
Dear Taratorn,
I have done that in mice, you have to use the same animals till they die so that you can see what is from learning and experience and what is from age.
1 Recommendation
Dear Taratorn,
regarding re-testing of the same animal in various repetition of the test, it is possible however, you have to take that into accound when you do your statistical analysis as well as your results interpretations.
In particular in a learning task like the Morris Water Maze, where some procedural learning is present as well as spatial learning.
In particular some "training" effect might shadow your age-induced deficit.
If you keep that in mind there is no reason you should not re-use the same animals, especially considering that you seem to plan to test them every 4 months, which should be enough to reduce the impact of each repetition of the test.
In an attempt to reduce the transfert of learning from one iteration to the next, you could consider testing them in different room (if feasible) or changing the distal and local cues used during the visual learning and spatial learning phase of the task.
I hope it helps
best
2 Recommendations
The following reference involving repeat-testing of monkeys to assess long-term memory did not use rats, but as I recall that entire issue of Physiological Psychology (I do not have immediate access) was devoted to long-term memory, so I would guess that rat studies were included.
1 Recommendation
20th May, 2016
I think that is sufficient time between testing while using the same rat. It is because comparing a human and a rat, a human participant will most likely take six months from initial testing to repeat testing to one year. However, a rat is considerably smaller and wouldn't need a lot of time for forgetting purposes from initial to repeat to repeat testings. But there is always assumption involved, minimizing that is the key. Overall, I don't see any problem about using the same rat in your experiment.
No offense intended, but I fail to see the relevance of Paul Y. Kim's answer, as it is unrelated to a rat's versus a human's life span, and even if it was, I still do not see the relevance. What am I misunderstanding?
Jonas Hauser made good points. There is additional discussion of confounding one may encounter in re-testing animals in a learning/memory test in the article I cited in my first answer.
1 Recommendation
If they have no kind of cognitive disease, I think you should probably test different animals.
If I understood well your study, you are not evaluating how the memory declines...but if the rat can learn and retrieve informations during the aging. So, I think you could use different rats for it.
Additionally, if possible, I would consider using mice. Mice are more sociable than rats, they can live in society as humans do. The lifespan is basically the same, and we already know the cognitive effects that social interaction does.
Hello Taratorn:
There are already some good and informative suggestions about the learning and memory testing of mice/rats. From all the readings, I conclude that it is OK to use the same batch of mice for your aging study as well. In my animal studies with mice using Barnes maze, I noticed that whatever training I gave to them, they were able to retain them after 4 months. Another way you can do, get some mice of different ages (4, 8, 12, 16, 20 etc which will be more expensive) and work with them (train) at the same time to avoid any confusion you might have at this time.
Just a different thought. Good luck.
Similar questions and discussions
Related Publications
Die Neurodidaktik ist eine relativ junge Wissenschaft, die eine Schnittstelle zwischen kognitiven Neurowissenschaften und Didaktik darstellt. Ihre Aufgabe ist es, die Erkenntnisse der Hirnforschung in Bezug auf Lernen und Gedächtnis für die Didaktik aufzuarbeiten und für die Umsetzung im Unterricht nutzbar zu machen. Diese Arbeit soll einen Einblic...
Lernen ermöglicht es, sich in neuen Situationen aufgrund seiner Erfahrungen zurecht zu finden. Lernen vollzieht sich nicht
nur in der Schule; jede Tätigkeit, jedes Erlebnis kann eine Lernerfahrung darstellen. Lernen und Gedächtnis sind eng miteinander
verknüpft und wenngleich es unterschiedliche Lern- und Erinnerungstypen gibt, lassen sich einige a...
Se define “neurodidáctica” a la disciplina relacionada con los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, y el potencial del cerebro. De igual forma, se explicarán algunos conceptos que tienen incidencia con la temática, como: aprendizaje y memoria, el concepto de aprendizaje visto desde la didáctica general tradicional y desde las neurociencias, el concep...