A mental retardation gene, motopsin/neurotrypsin/prss12, modulates hippocampal function and social interaction.

ABSTRACT: Motopsin is a mosaic serine protease secreted from neuronal cells in various brain regions, including the hippocampus. The loss of motopsin function causes nonsyndromic mental retardation in humans and impairs long-term memory formation in Drosophila. To understand motopsin's function in the mammalian brain, motopsin knockout (KO) mice were generated. Motopsin KO mice did not have significant deficits in memory formation, as tested using the Morris water maze, passive avoidance and Y-maze tests. A social recognition test showed that the motopsin KO mice had the ability to recognize two stimulator mice, suggesting normal social memory. In a social novelty test, motopsin KO mice spent a longer time investigating a familiar mouse than wild-type (WT) mice did. In a resident-intruder test, moto

SUBMITTER: Mitsui S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2854837 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature