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Published on: July 3, 2020
Comprehensive behavioral phenotyping of calpastatin-knockout mice
Ryuichi Nakajima1, Keizo Takao, Shu-Ming Huang
1RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan. RNakajima@dal.ca
Background:
Calpastatin is an endogenous inhibitor of calpain, intracellular calcium-activated protease. It has been suggested to be involved in molecular mechanisms of long-term plasticity and excitotoxic pathways. However, functions of calpastatin in vivo are still largely unknown. To examine the physiological roles of calpastatin, we subjected calpastatin-knockout mice to a comprehensive behavioral test battery.
Results:
Calpastatin-knockout mice showed decreased locomotor activity under stressful environments, and decreased acoustic startle response, but we observed no significant change in hippocampus-dependent memory function.
Conclusion:
These results suggest that calpastatin is likely to be more closely associated with affective rather than cognitive aspects of brain function.
