The molecular basis of individual variation in spatial memory in rats

Despite very extensive studies related to molecular processes underlying memory formation, still little known about the potential differences in the brain biochemistry between "good" and "poor" learners belonging to a random population of young animals. In the present study, an attempt was taken to correlate the individual variation in short- and long-term spatial memory in three different lines of young, healthy rats: inbred Wistar (W), outcrossed Wistar/Spraque Dawley (W/S) and pigmented Long-Evans rats, with hippocampal levels of selected enzymes known as "memory molecules" including neuronal (n), endothelial (e) and inducible (i) NOS, CaMKIIa, PKA and ChAT.