Exploration and spatial learning in staggerer mutant mice.
Staggerer mutant mice, that lose cerebellar Purkinje cells and granule cells and inferior olive neurons, were evaluated in tests of spontaneous alternation and maze learning. It was found that, contrary to normal mice, the staggerer mutants did not alternate spontaneously and had deficits in the acquisition of maze learning. It is hypothesized that the olivocerebellar system has a role in visuo-spatial organization.
Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Neurology Service, Montreal, Canada.
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Lalonde
D000818:Animals; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D007858:Learning; D051379:Mice; D008818:Mice, Neurologic Mutants / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013037:Spatial Behavior