The Morris water maze task was used to test spatial learning and memory as well as the ability to reverse a learned response as described previously (Moy et al., 2007). The water maze (122 cm in diameter) was filled with 45 cm deep water at 24-26° C. The room had numerous visual cues. Water in the maze was tinted white with nontoxic poster paint so the escape platform was not visible. The experimenter was blinded as to the treatment group of the mice. The measures taken were swimming distance, swimming velocity, and latency to find the platform by an automated tracking system (Noldus Ethovision). In each test, mice that displayed significant floating behavior (average swimming velocity of <10cm/s) were removed from the analysis. Criterion for acquisition of learning was set at a 15-second average latency of all the mice to find the platform.
