Balogh S A, McDowell C S, Stavnezer A J, Denenberg V H
Biobehavioral Sciences Graduate Degree Program, University of Connecticut, U-154, 3107 Horsebarn Hill Road, Storrs, CT 06269-4154, USA.
Brain Res. 1999 Jul 31;836(1-2):38-48. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(99)01586-3.
The inbred 129 substrains have been characterized as poor learners that display hypoplasia of the corpus callosum. However, they are used extensively as a source of embryonic stem (ES) cells for creating mice carrying altered copies of a targeted gene ('knockout mice'). The present research investigated callosal agenesis and behavior in the 129/SvEvTac substrain and compared their behavior to that of C57BL/6J mice. In addition, the degree to which callosal agenesis affected behavior was assessed. Nearly 80% of 129/SvEvTac mice in the current sample exhibited callosal hypoplasia, although this was not subsequently found to be associated with any measure of cognition. They learned the Morris maze and a non-spatial pattern discrimination task, though at a level inferior to C57BL/6J mice. They were unable to learn shuttlebox avoidance or the Lashley III maze. The only measure on which they performed better than C57BL/6J mice was a simple water escape task. Thus, 129/SvEvTac mice, in addition to displaying aberrant neuroanatomy, perform poorly on many behavioral tasks, resulting in potential interpretational difficulties.
近交129亚系被认为是学习能力差的品系，表现出胼胝体发育不全。然而，它们被广泛用作胚胎干细胞的来源，用于培育携带靶向基因改变拷贝的小鼠（“基因敲除小鼠”）。本研究调查了129/SvEvTac亚系中的胼胝体发育不全及行为情况，并将它们的行为与C57BL/6J小鼠的行为进行比较。此外，还评估了胼胝体发育不全对行为的影响程度。在当前样本中，近80%的129/SvEvTac小鼠表现出胼胝体发育不全，尽管随后并未发现这与任何认知指标相关。它们学会了莫里斯水迷宫和非空间模式辨别任务，不过水平低于C57BL/6J小鼠。它们无法学会穿梭箱回避或拉什利三世迷宫。它们比C57BL/6J小鼠表现更好的唯一一项指标是简单的水逃避任务。因此，129/SvEvTac小鼠除了表现出异常的神经解剖结构外，在许多行为任务中表现不佳，这可能会导致解释上的困难。
