Возможности и перспективы поведенческого теста “Водный лабиринт Морриса”

Abstract

The Water behavioral test is a universal method for testing cognitive functions in experimental rodents, and it is especially effective in detecting deviations in memory functions and learning, which makes it indispensable in the study of aging, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, effect of therapeutic drugs, etc. However, this test can be a much more informative tool for analyzing the behavior of experimental animals than it seems at first glance. The formation, consolidation of memory and learning are quite complex processes that mainly involve the hippocampus, but in addition to it, many areas of the brain are involved in these processes. The various protocols for this test are so sensitive to changes in normal function in various areas of the brain, not just the hippocampus, that they can be used as an “indicator” of normal cognitive function. Thus, different modifications of the Morris Water Maze include different mechanisms of navigation, learning and memory, and the results of these tests and their correct calculation can give a lot of information about the behavior of the tested rodents. In this review article, we provide a list of the most popular methods for conducting the Water procedure and discuss what informative parameters can help a researcher in analyzing the results of this test.