Radial maze performance, open-field and elevated plus-maze behaviors in Fyn-kinase deficient mice: further evidence for increased fearfulness.
Fyn-deficient mice produced by inserting the beta-galactosidase gene (lacZ) into the fyn gene locus were tested in a radial maze, an open field and an elevated plus-maze. In the radial maze, the homozygous Fyn-deficient (fynz/fynz) mice showed no impairment in spatial learning, although they showed a stronger avoidance tendency for those arms located closer to the experimenter during pretraining (adaptation). In the open-field test, the fynz/fynz mice defecated more frequently in the bright condition than did the +/fynz mice, and they were less active during the first 10-min test period than the +/fynz mice. In addition, the temporal pattern of locomotor activity for fynz/fynz mice was altered by changing the illumination while the pattern for +/fynz mice remained relatively unchanged. Scores reflecting the fear-response in the elevated plus-maze were higher in the fynz/fynz mice. These results indicate that Fyn deficiency increased fear-response, but did not impair spatial learning in the radial maze. It is suggested that we should take account of effects of emotional factors in the learning experiment using mutant mice.
Miyakawa
T
T
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Yagi
T
T
Kagiyama
A
A
Niki
H
H
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors
D010770:Phosphotransferases