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

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Animal Behavior Research
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Traditional mazes used in animal studies have inherent shape-based limitations.
• Reproducing maze shapes flexibly, rapidly, and scalably in a single environment is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel reconfigurable maze system to overcome limitations of traditional mazes.
• To enable flexible, scalable, repeatable, and reproducible maze configurations for animal behavioral studies.

Main Methods:

• Development of a reconfigurable maze system using interlocking runways and modular parts.
• Assessment of spatial navigational behavior and hippocampal place coding in the reconfigurable maze.
• Demonstration of maze morphing to induce location remapping of spatial receptive fields.

Main Results:

• The reconfigurable maze system allows rapid and flexible configuration of diverse maze structures.
• Spatial navigation and hippocampal place coding were not impaired by the maze's interlocking mechanism.
• Maze morphing successfully induced location remapping of spatial receptive fields, demonstrating proof-of-principle.

Conclusions:

• The reconfigurable maze offers enhanced flexibility, scalability, repeatability, and reproducibility for neuroscience research.
• This system facilitates consistent investigation of neuronal substrates for learning and memory.
• The reconfigurable maze aids in screening for behavioral phenotypes in animal models.