Swimming T-Maze and Radial Maze: two Cognitive Procedural Experiments to Determine the Influence of Acute Calorie Restriction over Learning Abilities in Wistar Rats

Abstract

Caloric restriction (CR) has long been known to increase median and maximal lifespan and to decreases mortality and morbidity in short-lived animal models, likely by altering fundamental biological processes that regulate aging and longevity. In rodents, CR was reported to delay the aging of the immune system (immune senescence), which is believed to be largely responsible for a dramatic increase in age-related susceptibility to infectious diseases. However, it is unclear whether CR can exert similar effects in long-lived organisms. In rodents subjected to CR, the onset of age-related pathology is delayed and its frequency is reduced. The mechanism by which simple under-nutrition exerts these beneficial effects is not understood. One of the major age-related pathological aspects refers to the regress of cognitive functions and it is currently believed that CR might delay or even cancel the onset of such disturbances. A modality to assess the cognitive is through using one or more mazes (swimming T-maze, radial maze). In our study, spanned over 6 week’s period, we used 23 Wistar rats subjected to different levels of calorie intake (ad libitum, 100%, 75% and 25% of normal calorie intake). The rats subjected to different levels of CR were more successfully (statistically significant) at completing the tasks given by the types of mazes employed.