Abnormal patterns of maze patrolling in the mutant mouse staggerer. 1987

G Goodall, and G Gheusi

Two experiments describe the abnormal patterns of maze patrolling of adult mutant staggerer mice. The clinical symptoms of this mutant involve exclusively postural and gait abnormalities, apparently due to a disruption of cerebellar architecture leading to a vast reduction in cell numbers and size of this structure. This clinical feature can easily account for the first clear difference reported in these experiments, involving a reduction in the total ambulatory activity in a maze by this mutant. The more interesting result involves different qualitative aspects of the maze patrolling by staggers, compared to normal litter-mate controls. The experiments measured the distribution of subjects' visits to different maze locations, and varied the configuration and the amount of familiarization with the maze. Neither of these factors significantly influenced the basic results. These were the staggerers confined their ambulatory activity to a smaller number of different locations, which were more intensively visited compared to normals, and the staggerers showed a pronounced tendency to return to the place that was most recently visited, compared to a tendency by the normals to avoid that location. It is suggested that these results could be due either to abnormal novelty reactions or to a reduced tendency to pursue an initiated trajectory.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008818 Mice, Neurologic Mutants Mice which carry mutant genes for neurologic defects or abnormalities. Lurcher Mice,Nervous Mice,Reeler Mice,Staggerer Mice,Weaver Mice,Chakragati Mice,Chakragati Mouse,Lurcher Mouse,Mice, Neurological Mutants,Mouse, Neurologic Mutant,Mouse, Neurological Mutant,Nervous Mouse,Neurologic Mutant Mice,Neurological Mutant Mouse,Reeler Mouse,Staggerer Mouse,Weaver Mouse,ckr Mutant Mice,Mice, Chakragati,Mice, Lurcher,Mice, Nervous,Mice, Neurologic Mutant,Mice, Reeler,Mice, Staggerer,Mice, Weaver,Mice, ckr Mutant,Mouse, Chakragati,Mouse, Lurcher,Mouse, Nervous,Mouse, Reeler,Mouse, Staggerer,Mouse, Weaver,Mutant Mice, Neurologic,Mutant Mice, ckr,Mutant Mouse, Neurologic,Neurologic Mutant Mouse
D009043 Motor Activity Body movements of a human or an animal as a behavioral phenomenon. Activities, Motor,Activity, Motor,Motor Activities
D009154 Mutation Any detectable and heritable change in the genetic material that causes a change in the GENOTYPE and which is transmitted to daughter cells and to succeeding generations. Mutations
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D011689 Purkinje Cells The output neurons of the cerebellar cortex. Purkinje Cell,Purkinje Neuron,Purkyne Cell,Cell, Purkinje,Cell, Purkyne,Cells, Purkinje,Cells, Purkyne,Neuron, Purkinje,Neurons, Purkinje,Purkinje Neurons,Purkyne Cells
D011939 Mental Recall The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited. Recall, Mental
D002525 Cerebellar Cortex The superficial GRAY MATTER of the CEREBELLUM. It consists of two main layers, the stratum moleculare and the stratum granulosum. Cortex Cerebelli,Cerebelli, Cortex,Cerebellus, Cortex,Cortex Cerebellus,Cortex, Cerebellar
D004193 Discrimination Learning Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli. Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005684 Gait Manner or style of walking. Gaits
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia

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