CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Viale G. Colombo 3, Padova, Italy.
Physiol Behav. 2013 Jul 2;119:86-91. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.06.006. Epub 2013 Jun 14.
The biological function of the prion protein, which is intimately involved in the onset of prion diseases, remains unclear. To understand whether the prion protein could play a role in animal behavior, a battery of tests was applied to young and aged mice that express, or not, the prion protein. In contrast to the similar results obtained in all young animals, we found that aged mice lacking the prion protein reacted to new and stressful environments differently than their wild-type counterparts. This may suggest that, upon aging, the absence of the prion protein results in altered neural processing at the basis of adaptation to new situations.
朊病毒蛋白的生物学功能与朊病毒病的发病机制密切相关，但目前尚不清楚。为了研究朊病毒蛋白是否在动物行为中发挥作用，研究人员对表达或不表达朊病毒蛋白的年轻和年老的小鼠进行了一系列测试。与所有年轻动物的相似结果相反，研究人员发现缺乏朊病毒蛋白的老年小鼠对新的和压力环境的反应与野生型小鼠不同。这可能表明，随着年龄的增长，缺乏朊病毒蛋白会导致适应新环境的基础神经处理发生改变。
