We conclude that the Barnes maze is a convenient tool to
quantitate the different components of spatial memory in
aged rats and is sufficiently sensitive to detect age
changes in these components. The aged female SD rat
shares, in general terms, cognitive and cellular
hippocampal cell deficits with other rat strains and
represents a suitable animal model for implementing
therapeutic interventions that by boosting hippocampal
neurogenesis and revitalizing glial cells and neurons,
may restore cognitive function in old individuals.