title: Locomotor activity and behavior of mutant mice deleted for gastrin gene expression.
abstract: The current studies were initiated to investigate the role of brain-gut peptide, gastrin, on locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavior. Young, male mutant mice, lacking gastrin gene expression (GAS-KO mice), were used in the experiments. The locomotor activity of GAS-KO vs wild type (WT) mice was compared by open field test. The anxiety-like behavior was examined using elevated plus maze. The time and entries to the open arms of the elevated plus maze were used as an indicator for the anxiety-like behavior and the data were analyzed using Hindsight program. On the open field test, locomotor activity of GAS-KO mice was similar to that of the WT mice for the first 10 min of the test, but decreased significantly after that. Anxiety-like behavior was more evident in the GAS-KO vs WT mice in the elevated plus maze experiments. The number of entries to and time spent on the open arms of plus-maze were significantly reduced for the GAS-KO vs WT mice suggesting an increased anxiety-like behavior of GAS-KO mice. Our studies suggest that normal circulating levels of gastrins may play a direct or indirect role in the regulation of locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550-1043, USA. posingh@utmb.edu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cobb
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rengifo-Cam
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005755:Gastrins / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D018345:Mice, Knockout / Q000235:genetics*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005755:Gastrins