Effects of anterior thalamic lesions on spatial memory in mice

The present study was aimed at determining whether or not lesions of the anterior thalamic nuclei induced deficits in sequential or delayed spatial alternation (SA) in mice, these procedures enabling measures of sensitivity to interference and rate of forgetting respectively. Results showed that sequential SA comprising six successive trials separated by a 30 s inter-trial interval was not impaired by the lesion; in contrast, delayed SA in lesioned animals was impaired by a long (6 h) but not by a short (5 min) delay, compared with controls. These results support the view that lesions of anterior thalamic nuclei can produce anterograde amnesia for spatial informations selective to relatively long delay.