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Neuregulin 1 transgenic mice display reduced mismatch negativity, contextual fear conditioning and social interactions
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Neuregulin 1 transgenic mice display reduced mismatch negativity, contextual fear conditioning and social interactions

Richard S Ehrlichman, Steven N Luminais, Samantha L White, Noam D Rudnick, Nan Ma, Holly C Dow, Arati S Kreibich, Ted Abel, Edward S Brodkin, Chang-Gyu Hahn, …
Brain research, Vol.1294, pp.116-127
2009
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2009.07.065
PMCID: PMC2771287
PMID: 19643092

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Abstract

Neuregulin-1 ( NRG1) is one of susceptibility genes for schizophrenia and plays critical roles in glutamatergic, dopaminergic and GABAergic signaling. Using mutant mice heterozygous for Nrg1 ( Nrg1 +/−) we studied the effects of Nrg1 signaling on behavioral and electrophysiological measures relevant to schizophrenia. Behavior of Nrg1 +/− mice and their wild type littermates was evaluated using pre-pulse inhibition, contextual fear conditioning, novel object recognition, locomotor, and social choice paradigms. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to assess auditory gating and novel stimulus detection. Gating of ERPs was unaffected in Nrg1 +/− mice, but mismatch negativity in response to novel stimuli was attenuated. The Nrg1 +/− mice exhibited behavioral deficits in contextual fear conditioning and social interactions, while locomotor activity, pre-pulse inhibition and novel object recognition were not impaired. Nrg1 +/− mice had impairments in a subset of behavioral and electrophysiological tasks relevant to the negative/cognitive symptom domains of schizophrenia that are thought to be influenced by glutamatergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission. These mice are a valuable tool for studying endophenotypes of schizophrenia, but highlight that single genes cannot account for the complex pathophysiology of the disorder.
Schizophrenia Event-related potential Social Animal model Neuregulin Mice Behavior

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