Stability of inbred mouse strain differences in behavior and brain size between laboratories and across decades.

ABSTRACT: If we conduct the same experiment in two laboratories or repeat a classical study many years later, will we obtain the same results? Recent research with mice in neural and behavioral genetics yielded different results in different laboratories for certain phenotypes, and these findings suggested to some researchers that behavior may be too unstable for fine-scale genetic analysis. Here we expand the range of data on this question to additional laboratories and phenotypes, and, for the first time in this field, we formally compare recent data with experiments conducted 30-50 years ago. For ethanol preference and locomotor activity, strain differences have been highly stable over a period of 40-50 years, and most strain correlations are in the range of r = 0.85-0.98, as high as or higher th

SUBMITTER: Wahlsten D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1618164 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature