Reduced prepulse inhibition of startle in STAT6-deficient mice.
To determine the role of STAT6 transcription factors in brain function, we performed a battery of mouse behavioral analyses of STAT6-deficient mice. We recently showed that STAT6-deficient mice displayed increased locomotor activities and had reduced levels of dopamine transporter (DAT) expression in the striatum. To further examine the behavioral effects of STAT6 deficiency, we subjected STAT6-deficient mice to behavior task testing prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the auditory startle response. In acoustic prepulse conditions, STAT6-deficient mice displayed significantly lower levels of PPI in acoustic startle than did wild-type mice, indicating their sensorimotor gating deficits. Thus, STAT6 transcription factors may be crucially implicated in sensorimotor gating by modulating the expression of several genes, including DAT in brain neurons.
Yukawa
Kazunori
K
Department of Physiology, Wakayama Medical University, 811-1 Kimiidera, Wakayama 641-8509, Japan. kazu59@wakayama-med.ac.jp
Tanaka
Tetsuji
T
Owada-Makabe
Kyoko
K
Tsubota
Yuji
Y
Bai
Tao
T
Maeda
Masanobu
M
Takeda
Kiyoshi
K
Akira
Shizuo
S
Iso
Hiroyuki
H
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D005838:Genotype; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D012022:Reflex, Acoustic / Q000502:physiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*