T-maze (spontaneous alternation)

LSID: http://syli.cz/urn:lsid:public.sylics.com:conventionaltest:6E48-G95E-G7A2

Materials and Methods
Mice were singly housed on sawdust in standard Makrolon type II cages enriched with cardboard nesting material for at least one week prior to experiments, with water and food ad libitum (7:00/19:00 lights on/off; providing an abrupt phase transition).

T-maze
Short-term spatial memory was assessed in a T-maze (white PVC, arms 30 x10 cm) according to a protocol described before (Deacon & Rawlins, 2006). A sample trials was started by placing a mouse into the start arm (base of the T) to explore the maze. During a sample trial, a removable central partition (17 cm long) protruded from the centre of the back wall into the start arm, forcing mice to choose left or right arm while positioned in the start arm. After an entry into a goal arm, a guillotine door at the entrance of the goal arm was lowered, and the mouse was contained in the arm for 30 s. To prepare for the test trial, the central partition was removed and a guillotine door at the end of the start arm was lowered. The test trial was initiated by placing the mouse in the start arm and removing both the guillotine door from the goal arm and the guillotine door at the end of the start arm. A successful alternation was scored if mice choose to enter the previously non-visited goal arm. A total of 6 sample and test trials were performed, distributed across two days with at least 1 h in between.


Parameter information

Parameter name	Units
*Alternation (percentage)	Percent
Latency sample per day	Seconds
Latency test per day	Seconds
Bias	Proportion