Both male and female APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice are impaired in spatial memory and cognitive flexibility at 9 months of age

Lianne A. Hulshof, Leon A. Frajmund, Danny van Nuijs, Denise C.N. van der Heijden, Jinte Middeldorp, Elly M. Hol*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

8 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. Despite many years of research, very limited treatment options are available. Here we aim to establish a well-defined learning and memory performance test for an AD mouse model, which can be used in future studies to evaluate the effect of novel drugs, treatments, and interventions. We exposed 9-month-old APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice to a battery of memory tests to determine which test is best suited to study memory deficits in this specific AD mouse model. Since in more recent years it has become clear that there are sex-dependent differences in AD pathology, we also assessed differences in performance between male and female mice. From our test battery, we conclude that the Barnes maze task, which spans multiple days, is better suited to study subtle learning and memory deficits in 9-month-old APPswe/PS1dE9 mice, than the 2 trial T-maze and Fear conditioning task. This test revealed deficits in both spatial memory and cognitive flexibility in the APPswe/PS1dE9 mice compared to wildtype littermates. Furthermore, we conclude that there are no sex dependent memory deficit differences in this AD mouse model at this age.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-38
Number of pages11
JournalNeurobiology of Aging
Volume113
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Keywords

  • Alzheimer's disease
  • APPswe/PS1dE9
  • Barnes maze
  • Memory
  • Sex differences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Both male and female APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice are impaired in spatial memory and cognitive flexibility at 9 months of age'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this