McNaughton Caitlyn H, Moon Jisook, Strawderman Myla S, Maclean Kenneth N, Evans Jeffrey, Strupp Barbara J
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Behav Neurosci. 2008 Apr;122(2):293-300. doi: 10.1037/0735-7044.122.2.293.
This study assessed social behavior in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the Fmr1 (tm1Cgr) or Fmr1 "knockout" (KO) mouse. Both the KO and wild-type (WT) mice preferred to be near a novel conspecific than to be alone. However, during the initial interaction with a novel conspecific, (1) a greater proportion of the KO mice exhibited high levels of grooming; and (2) the average duration of nose contact with the stimulus mouse was significantly shorter for the KO mice, both indicative of increased arousal and/or anxiety. Both groups exhibited a robust novelty preference when the novel animal was a "preferred" mouse. However, when the novel mouse was a "nonpreferred" animal, both groups showed a diminished novelty preference but this effect was more pronounced for the WT mice. This blunted negative reaction of the KO mice to a nonpreferred animal may indicate that they were less proficient than controls in distinguishing between positive and negative social interactions. These findings provide support for the use of this animal model to study the autistic features of FXS and autism spectrum disorders.
本研究评估了脆性X综合征（FXS）小鼠模型Fmr1（tm1Cgr）或Fmr1“敲除”（KO）小鼠的社交行为。KO小鼠和野生型（WT）小鼠都更倾向于靠近陌生的同种小鼠而不是独处。然而，在与陌生同种小鼠的初次互动中，（1）更大比例的KO小鼠表现出高水平的梳理行为；（2）KO小鼠与刺激小鼠鼻接触的平均持续时间显著缩短，这两者都表明觉醒和/或焦虑增加。当陌生动物是“偏好”小鼠时，两组都表现出强烈的新奇偏好。然而，当陌生小鼠是“非偏好”动物时，两组的新奇偏好都减弱了，但这种效应在WT小鼠中更明显。KO小鼠对非偏好动物这种减弱的负面反应可能表明，它们在区分积极和消极社交互动方面不如对照组熟练。这些发现为使用这种动物模型研究FXS和自闭症谱系障碍的自闭症特征提供了支持。
