Drug effects in a radial maze designed for dissociation of cues used by mice.

Scopolamine and amphetamine effects were investigated in a new radial maze. Three distinct procedures were designed to dissociate the use, by C57BL/6 mice, of the different cues available: a procedure where only spatial information was available, a procedure in which both spatial cues and olfactory trials were present, and a nonconfinement procedure where mice could use spatial cues, olfactory trials, and/or algorithmic strategies. We found that while scopolamine impaired performance on the maze in all three procedures, amphetamine tended to improve solving of the maze problem, but only in the procedure where spatial cues alone were available. The results are discussed in relation to hypotheses concerning these drug effects.