Kesner, R. P., Adelstein, T. B., and Crutcher, K. A. (1989). Equivalent spatial location memory deficits in rats with medial
septum or hippocampal formation lesions and patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Brain & Cognition, 9(2):289-300.
Abstract
College students, healthy elderly subjects, patients diagnosed with
mild or moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type, as well as rats
with small or large lesions of the medial septum (MS), dorsal
hippocampal formation (DHF) or nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM)
were tested on an item memory task for a five- or six-item list of
varying spatial locations. Equivalent patterns of item memory
deficits as a function of serial order position were observed in
rats with small or large MS or DHF lesions and patients with mild or
moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type. No deficits were found
for NBM-lesioned rats. The results provide support for the
possibility that rats with MS and DHF lesions mimic the mnemonic
symptomatology of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
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