Assessment of spatial learning in the Morris watermaze.

Learning was assessed by the latency in seconds to find the hidden platform. Animals with DS who prenatally received saline (placebo, open circles) did not learn over the 5 day period. Control animals (open squares) who prenatally received saline (placebo) did learn with an approximate halving of their latency. Control animals who prenatally received NAP+SAL (closed squares) also learned over the five day period. Animals with DS who prenatally received NAP+SAL (closed circles) learned over the five day period, similar to controls and significantly better than DS-placebo (p<0.01).