Persistence of reduced aggression in vasopressin 1b receptor knockout mice on a more "wild" background.
It has been previously reported that vasopressin 1b receptor knockout (Avpr1b(-/-)) mice have reduced levels of aggressive behavior compared to wildtype littermates. However, as the background of the mice was always a mixture of 129/SvJ and C57BL/6, we wanted to determine if the phenotype persisted when our laboratory line was crossed with a wild-derived sub-species of house mice. To this end, we crossed our Avpr1b(-/-) mice with Mus musculus castaneus, one of the few sub-species that will breed with laboratory strains. Subsequent F(2) offspring were tested in a resident-intruder behavioral test to assess aggressive behavior. We found that even on this more "wild" background, Avpr1b(-/-) mice continued to demonstrate longer attack latencies and fewer attacks in a resident-intruder test than wildtype littermates. These findings are consistent with previous reports of reduced aggressive behavior in Avpr1b(-/-) mice and show that the deficit does persist on a different background strain. Further, these findings confirm the importance of the Avpr1b to normal displays of social forms of aggressive behavior.
Department of Biological Sciences and the School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, United States. hcaldwel@kent.edu
Heather K
HK
Caldwell
W Scott
WS
Young
D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D018345:Mice, Knockout / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin