title: Behavioral profile of mice with impaired cognition in the elevated plus-maze due to a deficiency in neural cell adhesion molecule.
abstract: The elevated plus-maze (EPM) test is one of the most used tests for screening levels of anxiety in rodents. In the present study, we studied how impaired cognition due to a deficiency in the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) could affect the behavior of mice in the EPM task. NCAM-knockout mice demonstrated impaired learning in both object-recognition and fear-conditioning tasks. Analysis of the behavior of mice in the EPM task using a minute-by-minute method revealed a profound influence of genotype. Wild-type mice demonstrated quick learning of the aversive properties of the open arms during the first few minutes of a single EPM task, whereas NCAM-/- mice were unable to learn the aversive properties of the open arms of EPM. Wild-type mice also demonstrated habituation to the EPM task in a test/retest paradigm whereas NCAM-knockout mice failed to habituate during the second EPM presentation. Our data show that the anxiolytic-like behavior of NCAM-knockout mice is not just related to levels of innate anxiety but also to their inability to recognize potential danger associated with the open arms of the EPM task.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Center of Excellence for Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jürgenson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aonurm-Helm
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zharkovsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules