Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2002):

Strain differences in activity and emotionality do not account for differences in learning and memory performance between C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice.

Full Abstract

This study examined emotionality, activity, learning and memory, as well as the influence of emotionality and activity on learning and memory performance in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice using a mouse-test battery. DBA/2 mice performed more poorly than C57BL/6 mice in complex learning tasks such as the water maze and object recognition tasks. In contrast, C57BL/ 6 mice showed attenuated habituation tonovelty in the open field apparatus and poorer performance in the step-down passive avoidance task. The C57BL/6 mice were less exploratory and more anxious than the DBA/ 2 mice. The anxiety score (open arm entries in the elevated plus maze) was significantly correlated with all measures of learning and memory in the object recognition task, and some measures in the passive avoidance and water maze tasks. Analysis of covariance (with open arm entries as a covariate) revealed that some measures on trial 1 of the object recognition task, but not the memory scores on trial 2,were confounded by anxiety. No confounding factors of anxiety were found in the water maze or passive avoidance tasks. Similar results were obtained with the activity scores (line crossing and rearing in the open field). In conclusion, strain differences in activity and anxiety did not account for strain differences in learning and memory performance of C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice. Nonetheless, the importance of using complete behavioural test batteries should be stressed to ensure that strain differences in learning and memory tasks are not confounded by non-cognitive factors.

Author information

Author/s: Podhorna, J (J); Brown, R E (RE);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4J1.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Genes, brain, and behavior (Genes Brain Behav), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-May; vol 1 (issue 2) : pp 96-110

Dates: Created 2003/07/29; Completed 2003/09/26; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12884980, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals Arousal - genetics; physiology Brain - physiology Emotions - physiology Fear - physiology Female Genotype Learning - physiology

Male Memory - physiology Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL - genetics Mice, Inbred DBA - genetics Motor Activity - physiology Phenotype Species Specificity

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