Morris Water Maze
Objective: To determine if mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in the dorsal hippocampus CA1/CA2 subfield is essential for long-term spatial memory formation using the Morris water maze task
This is a Morris Water Maze protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 4 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 1999 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Morris Water Maze Training • Intrahippocampal Infusion - Experimental Group • Intrahippocampal Infusion - Control Group
Primary readouts
- Enhanced phosphorylation of MAPK in CA1/CA2 pyramidal neurons
- Percentage of phospho-MAPK-positive cells in hippocampal subfields
- Long-term spatial memory formation
- Acquisition performance in Morris water maze
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Morris Water Maze Training
Rats are trained in the Morris water maze spatial memory task to locate a hidden platform
Note: Enhanced MAPK phosphorylation was observed only after multiple training trials but not after a single trial
View evidence from paper
“The enhanced phosphorylation was observed only after multiple training trials but not after a single trial or after multiple trials in which the location of the target platform was randomly changed between each trial.”
Intrahippocampal Infusion - Experimental Group
Intrahippocampal infusion of PD098059 (MAPK/ERK cascade inhibitor) into dorsal hippocampi during or before training
Note: PD098059 infusion blocked formation of long-term spatial memory but did not impair acquisition
View evidence from paper
“Inhibition of the MAPK/ERK cascade in dorsal hippocampi did not impair acquisition, but blocked the formation of long-term spatial memory.”
Intrahippocampal Infusion - Control Group
Intrahippocampal infusion of SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) into dorsal hippocampi as control treatment
Note: SB203580 did not interfere with memory storage, serving as a control for specificity
View evidence from paper
“intrahippocampal infusion of SB203580, a specific inhibitor of the stress-activated MAPK (p38 MAPK), did not interfere with memory storage.”
Tissue Analysis - Phospho-MAPK Detection
Analysis of phosphorylated MAPK in hippocampal subfields following training
Note: Enhanced phosphorylation detected in CA1/CA2 pyramidal neurons but not in CA3 or dentate gyrus
View evidence from paper
“The activation was expressed as enhanced phosphorylation of MAPK in the pyramidal neurons of the CA1/CA2 subfield. In contrast, no increase in the percentage of phospho-MAPK-positive cells was detected in either the CA3 subfield or the dentate gyrus.”