Umehara Fujio, Mishima Kenichi, Egashira Nobuaki, Ogata Ayumi, Iwasaki Katsunori, Fujiwara Michihiro
Department of Neurology and Geriatrics, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Sakuragaoka 8-35-1, Kagoshima, Japan.
Behav Brain Res. 2006 Nov 1;174(1):167-73. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2006.07.022. Epub 2006 Sep 6.
To investigate the functional role of Desert hedgehog (Dhh) gene in the nervous system, we examined motor, sensory, learning and memory functions as well as mood in Dhh knockout (KO) mice. Dhh KO male mice exhibited prolonged immobility time compared with wild-type male mice in the forced swimming test, and showed enhanced inhibition in the Vogel's conflict model. These findings suggest that Dhh KO male mice exhibited enhanced anxiety and depressive behavior compared with wild-type male mice. In contrast, Dhh KO female mice did not show any significant difference compared to wild-type female mice. These behavioral abnormalities of Dhh KO male mice may be due to lower testosterone levels with abnormal development of the testes caused by Dhh-null mutation.
为了研究沙漠刺猬因子（Dhh）基因在神经系统中的功能作用，我们检测了Dhh基因敲除（KO）小鼠的运动、感觉、学习和记忆功能以及情绪。在强迫游泳试验中，与野生型雄性小鼠相比，Dhh基因敲除雄性小鼠的不动时间延长，并且在Vogel冲突模型中表现出更强的抑制作用。这些发现表明，与野生型雄性小鼠相比，Dhh基因敲除雄性小鼠表现出增强的焦虑和抑郁行为。相比之下，与野生型雌性小鼠相比，Dhh基因敲除雌性小鼠没有表现出任何显著差异。Dhh基因敲除雄性小鼠的这些行为异常可能是由于Dhh基因缺失突变导致睾丸发育异常，进而使睾酮水平降低所致。
