Behavioral phenotyping of Nestin-Cre mice: Implications for genetic mouse models of psychiatric disorders

Abstract Genetic mouse models based on the Cre- lox P system have been extensively used to explore the influence of specific gene deletions on different aspects of behavioral neurobiology. However, the interpretation of the effects attributed to the gene deletion might be obscured by potential side...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 55; pp. 87 - 95
Main Authors:	Giusti, Sebastian A, Vercelli, Claudia A, Vogl, Annette M, Kolarz, Adam W, Pino, Natalia S, Deussing, Jan M, Refojo, Damian
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2014 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animals Anxiety Behavior, Animal Biological and medical sciences Brain - metabolism Conditioning (Psychology) Cre-loxP system Disease Models, Animal Endophenotypes Exploratory Behavior Fear Fear conditioning General aspects Genes Integrases - genetics Integrases - metabolism Learning Male Medical sciences Memory Mental Disorders - genetics Mental Disorders - psychology Mice, Transgenic Modification Motor Activity Mouse model Nestin - genetics NestinCre Neuropsychological Tests Psychiatric disorders Psychiatry Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry Reflex, Startle Sensory Gating Side effects Social Behavior Cre- loxP system Mouse model Anxiety Nestin Cre Fear conditioning NestinCre Cre-loxP system Affect affectivity Animal model Rodentia Emotion emotionality Fear Vertebrata Mammalia Mouse Animal Mental disorder Genetics Behavior Conditioning Nestin(Cre)
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Summary:	Abstract Genetic mouse models based on the Cre- lox P system have been extensively used to explore the influence of specific gene deletions on different aspects of behavioral neurobiology. However, the interpretation of the effects attributed to the gene deletion might be obscured by potential side effects secondary to the Cre recombinase transgene insertion or Cre activity, usually neither controlled nor reported. Here, we performed a comprehensive behavioral analysis of endophenotypes of neuropsychiatric disorders in the extensively used NestinCre mouse line, commonly employed to restrict genetic modifications to the CNS. We observed no alterations in locomotion, general exploratory activity, learning and memory, sociability, startle response and sensorimotor gating. Although the overall response to stimuli triggering anxiety-like behaviors remained unaltered in NestinCre mice, a strong impairment in the acquisition of both contextual- and cued-conditioned fear was observed. These results underline the importance of adequately controlling the behavioral performance of the employed Cre-lines per-se in pre-clinical neurobehavioral research.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0022-3956 1879-1379
DOI:	10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.04.002