Equivalent spatial location memory deficits in rats with medial septum or hippocampal formation lesions and patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type

College students, healthy elderly subjects, patients diagnosed with mild or moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type, as well as rats with small or large lesions of the medial septum (MS), dorsal hippocampal formation (DHF) or nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) were tested on an item memory task for a five- or six-item list of varying spatial locations. Equivalent patterns of item memory deficits as a function of serial order position were observed in rats with small or large MS or DHF lesions and patients with mild or moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type. No deficits were found for NBM-lesioned rats. The results provide support for the possibility that rats with MS and DHF lesions mimic the mnemonic symptomatology of patients with Alzheimer's disease.