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Dissecting spatial knowledge from spatial choice by hippocampal NMDA receptor deletion

Bannerman, D. M.; Bus, T.; Taylor, A.; Sanderson, D. J.; Schwarz, I.; Jenson, V.; Hvalby, Ø; Rawlins, J. N. P.; Seeburg, P. H.; Sprengel, R.

Authors

D. M. Bannerman

T. Bus

A. Taylor

I. Schwarz

V. Jenson

Ø Hvalby

J. N. P. Rawlins

P. H. Seeburg

R. Sprengel



Abstract

Hippocampal NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and NMDAR-dependent synaptic plasticity are widely considered crucial substrates of long-term spatial memory, although their precise role remains uncertain. Here we show that Grin1ΔDGCA1 mice, lacking GluN1 and hence NMDARs in all dentate gyrus and dorsal CA1 principal cells, acquired the spatial reference memory water maze task as well as controls, despite impairments on the spatial reference memory radial maze task. When we ran a spatial discrimination water maze task using two visually identical beacons, Grin1ΔDGCA1 mice were impaired at using spatial information to inhibit selecting the decoy beacon, despite knowing the platform's actual spatial location. This failure could suffice to impair radial maze performance despite spatial memory itself being normal. Thus, these hippocampal NMDARs are not essential for encoding or storing long-term, associative spatial memories. Instead, we demonstrate an important function of the hippocampus in using spatial knowledge to select between alternative responses that arise from competing or overlapping memories.

Citation

Bannerman, D. M., Bus, T., Taylor, A., Sanderson, D. J., Schwarz, I., Jenson, V., …Sprengel, R. (2012). Dissecting spatial knowledge from spatial choice by hippocampal NMDA receptor deletion. Nature Neuroscience, 15(8), 1153-1159. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3166

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 1, 2012
Deposit Date Sep 21, 2012
Journal Nature Neuroscience
Print ISSN 1097-6256
Electronic ISSN 1546-1726
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 8
Pages 1153-1159
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3166
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1496172