Increased anxiety-like behavior in neuropsin (kallikrein-related peptidase 8) gene-deficient mice.
Neuropsin (kallikrein-related peptidase 8) is concentrated in the hippocampus, amygdala, olfactory bulb, and prefrontal cortex. Earlier studies showed that protease deficiency causes a significant impairment of early-phase long-term potentiation in the Schaffer collateral pathway and hippocampus-dependent memory in the Y maze and Morris water maze (Z. Chen et al., 1995; A. Hirata et al., 2001; H. Tamura et al., 2006). In addition to neuropsin's participation in the hippocampal memory, amygdalar and cortical localization of the gene suggests extrahippocampal behavioral function, and the authors therefore examined neuropsin-deficient mice, including tests of sensory motor reflex, open field, light-dark transition, Rota-Rod, elevated plus-maze, hot plate, startle response-prepulse inhibition, Porsolt forced swim, Barnes maze, eight-arm radial maze, and contextual and cued fear conditioning tests. Here, the authors found increased anxiety in neuropsin-deficient mice, suggesting the involvement of this protease in emotional responses.
Division of Structural Cell Biology, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara, Japan.
Yoichiro
Y
Horii
Nobuyuki
N
Yamasaki
Tsuyoshi
T
Miyakawa
Sadao
S
Shiosaka
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D007610:Kallikreins / Q000172:deficiency*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000235:genetics; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000235:genetics
D007610:Kallikreins