Sex differences in ICR mice in the Morris water maze task

The Morris water maze (MWM) is one of the most common tasks used to assess spatial learning and memory ability in rodents. Genetic strain and gender are two prominent variants that influence spatial performance. Although it was reported that ICR (Institute of Cancer Research) mice exhibited an uncha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysiological research Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 107 - 117
Main Authors Ge, J F, Qi, C C, Qiao, J P, Wang, C W, Zhou, N J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Czech Republic Institute of Physiology 01.01.2013
Subjects
Animal behavior
Animal cognition
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Body Weight
Female
Gender differences
Male
Maze Learning
Memory
Mice
Mice, Inbred ICR
Motor Activity
Reaction Time
Rodents
Sex Factors
Studies
Time Factors
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Summary:The Morris water maze (MWM) is one of the most common tasks used to assess spatial learning and memory ability in rodents. Genetic strain and gender are two prominent variants that influence spatial performance. Although it was reported that ICR (Institute of Cancer Research) mice exhibited an unchanged baseline performance in the training phase of the MWM task, this outbred strain has been widely used in learning and memory studies, and little is known regarding the effects of sex on behavioral performance. In this study, we demonstrated that both male and female ICR mice could complete the MWM task. Furthermore, a significant sex difference was observed, with females having shorter escape latencies and longer durations in the target quadrant in both the acquisition and test phases. Our findings emphasize the necessity of careful examination of not only the strain effect on behavioral performance but also the sex effect.
ISSN:0862-8408
1802-9973
DOI:10.33549/physiolres.932371