Figure 1. Barnes maze performance pre-treatment.

Behavioral analysis was conducted before and after the induction of status epilepticus according to the timeline shown (A). On Day 0 dark preference and motor behavior was measured. This was followed by Barnes maze training on Days 1–4 followed by a retention test on Day 5. The same timeline was repeated 3 weeks after induction of status epilepticus. For each of the first four days of training, mice (28 WT and 25 nCOX-2 cKO) were subjected to four 3-minute trials in the maze, and the data for all four trials were averaged for each mouse. On day 5 the target hole was covered and the mice were subjected to two 90-second trials to assess retention of spatial memory. The number of error holes explored before reaching the target hole (B), the latency to first reach the target hole (C), the total number of errors made before escaping into the target hole (D) and the time required to escape into the target hole (E) were measured. Data represent mean ±SEM. The two genotypes did not differ in any measure by two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (D1–D4): genotype × day interaction (B) F=2.101, p=0.102; (C) F=2.651, p=0.051; (D) F=0.323, p=0.089; (E) F=0.042, p=0.988. There was a substantial main effect of training for all measures: panel B, F=7.22, p=0.0001; panel C, F=30.27, p<0.0001; panel D, F=24.95, p<0.0001; panel E, F=62.2, p<0.0001. Comparison of the two genotypes on the test day (D5) was made by t-tests: (B,D) p=0.359; (C,E) p=0.132.