title: Motor coordination, exploration, and spatial learning in a natural mouse mutation (nervous) with Purkinje cell degeneration.
abstract: The nervous mouse mutation causes a relatively selective degeneration of Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex. The mutants were compared to age-matched controls of the same background strain in tests of motor activity and coordination, spontaneous alternation, and spatial learning in the Morris water maze. As expected from their ataxia, the nervous mutants were impaired in stationary beam, coat-hanger, and rotorod tests of motor coordination. The nervous mutants were also impaired in the submerged but not in the visible platform condition of the Morris water maze, attributable to a spatial deficit, and displayed a higher level of motor activity in an automated chamber. The deficit in spontaneous alternation rates seen in nervous mutants is accountable by reduced motivation, disinhibition, or spatial disorientation.
authors.affiliation: Université de Rouen, Faculté des Sciences (PSY. CO EA 1780), Laboratoire de Neurobiologie de l'Apprentissage, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan, Cedex. France. robert.lalonde@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strazielle
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008818:Mice, Neurologic Mutants / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000473:pathology*