Aquatic experiment maze STARMAZE

for behavioral researchfor micefor rats

The StarMaze is an aquatic maze in which complex processes of decision making are demanded. The aim of this apparatus is to analyze learning and memory capacities, as well as several other executive functions of rodents in a navigation context. The animal has to swim in an aquatic maze in order to reach the submerged platform or to find a reward in a dry version of the test. During the acquisition, rodents learn to navigate through the maze or to memorize a pathway thanks to visuals cues. The Starmaze has been developed by Dr Laure Rondi-Reig in 2006 (Rondi-Reig et al., 2006 J.Neuro). It allows to test and identify navigation strategies on mice and to study hippocampal neuronal activity through electrophysiological recordings paired to behavioral analyses (Cabral et al., 2014). Several scientifical publications investigated new neuronal functions involved in navigation through the Starmaze (Fouquet et al., 2011, 2013, …).