title: Post-weaning social factors promote motor and social behaviors in staggerer mice.
abstract: Male staggerer mutant mice generally do not mate. This lack of spontaneous sexual behavior may be partially due to motor disturbances associated with cerebellar abnormalities. Social experience and probable sensory motor stimulation produced by the post-weaning cohabitation with several non-mutant mice improve the adult interactive behaviors of staggerer males when encountering sexually receptive non-mutant females. Tested for their motor capacities, these experienced males perform better when compared to control males who cohabited with only one non-mutant after weaning. These results correspond to the first demonstration of post-weaning social experience effects both on motor control and on social interactions in the same individuals of homozygous staggerer mice.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, U.R.A. C.N.R.S. No. 2214, Université Paris XIII, Avenue J.B. Clément, 93430, Villetaneuse, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Féron
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baudoin