Altered processing of novel information in N-CAM-deficient mice.

N-CAM-deficient mice display anatomical and electrophysiological abnormalities in the CNS and behavioral deficits. Here, we address the question whether information processing is altered in these mice by analysis of the expression of c-fos and arg 3.1/arc in N-CAM-deficient mice after presentation of saccharin as novel or familiar and water as neutral gustatory stimulus. When compared to their wild-type control littermates, increased expression of c-fos mRNA in the amygdala after the novel taste and of arg 3.1/arc mRNA in the dentate gyrus 4.5 h after the neutral taste was detected in the absence of N-CAM. Furthermore, the novelty-induced increase in arg 3.1/arc expression in the cingulate cortex 4.5 h after the novel taste was not observed in N-CAM-deficient mice. These data suggest that information processing mediated by immediate-early gene expression is altered in N-CAM-deficient mice.