Abstract
Episodic memory decline is an early marker of cognitive aging in human. Although controversial in animals and called “episodic-like memory”, several models have been successfully developed, however they rarely focused on ageing. While marmoset is an emerging primate model in aging science, episodic-like memory has never been tested in this species and importantly in aged marmosets. Here, we examined if the recall of the what-when and what-where building blocks of episodic-like memory declines in ageing marmosets. We developed a naturalistic approach using spontaneous exploration of real objects by young and old marmosets in the home cage. We implemented a three-trial task with 1 week inter-trial interval. Two different sets of identical objects were presented in sample trials 1 and 2, respectively. For the test trial, two objects from each set were presented in a former position and two in a new one. We quantified the exploratory behaviour and calculated discrimination indices in a cohort of 20 marmosets. Young animals presented a preserved memory for combined what-where, and what-when components of the experiment, which declined with aging. These findings lead one to expect episodic-like memory deficits in aged marmosets.
Highlights
Episodic memory decline is an early marker of cognitive aging in human
While marmoset is a promising primate model of cognitive aging[30], to date, episodic-like memory (ELM) has never been tested in this species and more importantly in aged subjects
We used a spontaneous object recognition test (ORT), which has the advantages of being fast because no training is required, and naturalistic because measures are performed in home cages
Summary
Episodic memory decline is an early marker of cognitive aging in human. controversial in animals and called “episodic-like memory”, several models have been successfully developed, they rarely focused on ageing. An important family of tests in animals, as non-verbal subjects, is based on novelty preference and derived from spontaneous object recognition tests[6] These tests aim at following one crucial feature of episodic memory, i.e. it has to be implicit without explicit training or learning. While marmoset is a promising primate model of cognitive aging[30], to date, ELM has never been tested in this species and more importantly in aged subjects To this end, we evaluated what-where and what-when elements of ELM in a cohort of 20 marmosets including 7 old individuals. We evaluated what-where and what-when elements of ELM in a cohort of 20 marmosets including 7 old individuals For this purpose, we used a spontaneous object recognition test (ORT), which has the advantages of being fast because no training is required, and naturalistic because measures are performed in home cages. We are the first to target ELM with such a test in marmosets
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