Impairment of water maze behaviour with ageing is counteracted by maze learning earlier in life but not by physical exercise, food restriction or housing conditions

Spatial learning and memory decline with ageing in humans as well as rats. We examined the influence of different interventions on male Sprague Dawley rats with respect to learning ability and memory at the age of 5, 10 and 18 months. The intervention and control groups were: (RW) voluntary exercise in running wheels, (PW) sedentary, food restricted (by about 25%) to keep them at pair weight with RW, (S1) sedentary, fed ad libitum, (TM) forced training in a treadmill, and, (S4) sedentary, fed ad libitum. The animals in all groups were housed individually except those in group S4, which were housed four in each cage. The ability of learning and memory was determined in the Morris water maze. The results showed a significantly better learning ability when young in comparison with their ability when having grown older. At the age of 18 months, the performance was significantly better in the subgroups which had received training also at the age of 10 months compared to the subgroups receiving their first training. None of the various interventions had any significant effect on these functions. Repeated training seems to be the best intervention with respect to retaining learning ability and memory.