Abstract:Objective The aged rats, basal forebrain-injured rats and the rats injected with scopolamine are ofter used as animal models of alzheimer's disease. A behavioral comparison among three animal models were carried out in the study. Method Water maze and open field were applied in above three animal model groups, youth control group and sham operation control group. Results The ability of learning and memory in the aged rats, basal forebrain-injured rats and scopolamine-injected rats decreased significantly. The ability of spatial cognition in basal forebrain-injured rats and scopolamine-injected rats significantly declined. For the scopolamine-injected rats the excitability in new environment abnormally increased, (P<0.05). Conclusions The behavioral changes in basal forebrain-injured rats are more similar to the early clinical manifests of alzheimer's disease than those in aged rats and scopolamine-injected rats.