(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) McNeill, Damon Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: A. Michael Babcock
The most insidious consequences of transient ischemia are its effect on the hippocampus and the memory systems it serves. The novelty preference test is a direct measure of memory function and has been used in the rat and primate animal models. The gerbil animal model has been used extensively to study the mechanism of ischemic brain damage; however, the novelty preference paradigm has not been used to study memory impairment in this species. In addition, the novelty preference paradigm has not been tested with models of ischemia. In the present experiment, Mongolian gerbils were tested in two different types of novelty-preference tasks (Object and Arrangement) following either ischemic insult or a sham control surgery.
