Comprehensive behavioral phenotyping of calpastatin-knockout mice.
BACKGROUND
Calpastatin is an endogenous inhibitor of calpain, intracellular calcium-activated protease. It has been suggested to be involved in molecular mechanisms of long-term plasticity and excitotoxic pathways. However, functions of calpastatin in vivo are still largely unknown. To examine the physiological roles of calpastatin, we subjected calpastatin-knockout mice to a comprehensive behavioral test battery.


RESULTS
Calpastatin-knockout mice showed decreased locomotor activity under stressful environments, and decreased acoustic startle response, but we observed no significant change in hippocampus-dependent memory function.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that calpastatin is likely to be more closely associated with affective rather than cognitive aspects of brain function.
Nakajima
Ryuichi
R
RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan. RNakajima@dal.ca
Takao
Keizo
K
Huang
Shu-Ming
SM
Takano
Jiro
J
Iwata
Nobuhisa
N
Miyakawa
Tsuyoshi
T
Saido
Takaomi C
TC
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000378:metabolism; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D010641:Phenotype; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test; D055139:Sensory Gating / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013550:Swimming
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C033668:calpastatin