Brain Transplants Enhance Rather Than Reduce the Impairment of Spatial Memory and Olfaction in Bulbectomized Rats

The possibility to compensate the loss of olfactory and non-olfactory functions due to removal of the olfactory bulb by embryonal brain grafts was investigated in adult rats. Spatial working memory was examined in an 8-arm radial water maze task 6 weeks after bulbectomy. During 15 daily trials, perf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 1989-02, Vol.103 (1), p.61-70
Main Authors: Amemori, Takashi, Ermakova, Irina V, Bures˘sová, Olga, Z˘igová, Tatiana, Rac˘ekova, Enikö, Bures˘, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animal behavior
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Central Nervous System - physiology
Embryo, Mammalian
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Male
Memory - physiology
Mesencephalon
Neural Transplantation
Olfactory Bulb
Olfactory Bulb - physiology
Olfactory Bulb - transplantation
Olfactory Pathways - physiology
Olfactory Perception
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Short Term Memory
Smell
Spatial Behavior - physiology
Spatial Memory
Substantia Nigra - transplantation
Transplants & implants
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Summary:The possibility to compensate the loss of olfactory and non-olfactory functions due to removal of the olfactory bulb by embryonal brain grafts was investigated in adult rats. Spatial working memory was examined in an 8-arm radial water maze task 6 weeks after bulbectomy. During 15 daily trials, performance gradually improved in bulbectomized controls ( n = 10) and in rats with olfactory bulb transplants ( n = 9), but did not attain that of intact controls ( n = 10). No improvement was observed in the rats with substantia nigra grafts ( n = 8). Eleven weeks after bulbectomy, the same rats were tested in the water tank navigation task. The performance improved during ten 12-trial sessions in bulbectomized rats less than in intact controls, but more than in the transplanted rats. The olfactory food retrieval test performed 14 weeks after bulbectomy revealed almost full recovery of smell in bulbectomized rats, but not in the transplanted animals. It is concluded that the spatial memory deficit is probably due to bulbectomy-induced interference with septohippocampal function which is not alleviated, but rather enhanced by transplantation. The results suggest that the effect of brain grafting is not always beneficial.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.103.1.61