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Tools for studies with the
Biel/Cincinnati Water Maze
The Biel/Cincinnati Water Maze is a widely used test for studying egocentric navigation, learning, and memory in mice and rat disease models.
This maze has a more complex pathway to the escape platform in contrast to the well-known Morris Water Maze which is mainly used for studying allocentric navigation (based on the outside cues in the environment). Besides typical parameters measured also in Morris Water Maze (for example the amount of time the animal needs to reach the platform, distance moved, and latency), you can measure the number of errors the rodent makes before reaching the end of the maze.
Trial protocol
The Cincinnati Water Maze is actually a 10 unit multiple T maze, considered as an updated version of the Biel Water Maze. Before the start of the first trial, rodents are tested for their swimming abilities in a straight water channel. This phase is also used to show the animals there is a way to escape the water since they can find the hidden platform underneath the water surface when reaching their goal. Then, the real test starts and rodents have to find their way through the maze, from point A to point B.
Counting errors
A big advantage of using this water maze is that you can count the number of errors that an animal makes before reaching the end of the maze. Errors are counted based on number of times a rodent navigates to the dead-end or returns back to the start arm after already leaving it. When using automated tracking software EthoVision XT, this will all be done automatically and accurately!
Free e-book
Basic behavioral neuroscience in rodents
The Cincinnati water maze is an innovative approach to measuring spatial learning and memory in rats and mice. In our free e-book we explain the use of this maze, and what kind of learning and memory we actually measure with this test.
"EthoVision XT allows me to track videos accurately and reliably. Now I can use the hours that I used to spend with timers, pen and paper working on other areas of my research".
Dr. J. Womersley|University of CapeTown, South Africa
High quality Cincinnati Water Maze
At Noldus, we offer several options for high quality mazes. Each maze is from top materials, durable, and easy to clean. Below you can see our Cincinnati Water Maze with a functionality to lift it up from two sides, making it easy to remove all the water, and clean the maze. It is also perfectly suited for video tracking experiments and automated tests. Besides, we also supply accessory platforms.
Learn more
- Find out more about EthoVision XT tracking software,
- Or read more about Cincinnati Water Maze on our Noldus blog
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