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The Reconfigurable Maze Provides Flexible, Scalable, Reproducible, and Repeatable Tests

Multiple mazes are routinely used to test the performance of animals because each has disadvantages inherent to its shape. However, the maze shape cannot be flexibly and rapidly reproduced in a repeatable and scalable way in a single environment. Here, to overcome the lack of flexibility, scalabilit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hoshino, Satoshi, Takahashi, Riku, Mieno, Kana, Tamatsu, Yuta, Azechi, Hirotsugu, Ide, Kaoru, Takahashi, Susumu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6992939/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31918045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.100787
Descripción
Sumario:Multiple mazes are routinely used to test the performance of animals because each has disadvantages inherent to its shape. However, the maze shape cannot be flexibly and rapidly reproduced in a repeatable and scalable way in a single environment. Here, to overcome the lack of flexibility, scalability, reproducibility, and repeatability, we develop a reconfigurable maze system that consists of interlocking runways and an array of accompanying parts. It allows experimenters to rapidly and flexibly configure a variety of maze structures along the grid pattern in a repeatable and scalable manner. Spatial navigational behavior and hippocampal place coding were not impaired by the interlocking mechanism. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, we demonstrate that the maze morphing induces location remapping of the spatial receptive field. The reconfigurable maze thus provides flexibility, scalability, repeatability, and reproducibility, therefore facilitating consistent investigation into the neuronal substrates for learning and memory and allowing screening for behavioral phenotypes.