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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Oct 22.
Published in final edited form as: J Huntingtons Dis. 2012;1(1):107–118. doi: 10.3233/JHD-2012-120021

Fig. 1. Complement component 3 does not influence behavioral phenotypes in R6/2 mice.

Fig. 1

Behavioral readouts of disease progression were measured at 4, 8, and 12 weeks of age using balance beam, rotarod and open field testing. Data at each time point were tested for statistically significant differences using two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-hoc tests. Survival was monitored throughout the study and survival curves were tested for statistically significant differences using a Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. At 4 weeks of age, group sizes were as follows: WT;C3+/+ (n=15), WT;C3−/− (n=11), R6/2;C3+/+ (n=7), R6/2;C3−/− (n=14). Error bars represent SEM. ** = p<0.01 or ****=p<0.0001 for main effect of the R6/2 transgene by two-way ANOVA.

A) C3 protein levels in brains from 12 week old mice. As expected, we were unable to detect C3 protein in brain from C3−/− mice.

B) Rotarod. R6/2 mice fall off an accelerating rotarod sooner than WT littermates (significant main effect of the R6/2 transgene at 4 weeks, F(1,43)=7.581, p=0.0086, 8 weeks F(1,42)=38.91, p<0.0001 and 12 weeks F(1,38)=87.62, p<0.0001 of age), but this is not affected by C3 genotype (no significant effect of C3 genotype at any age) and there is no significant interaction between the two factors.

C) Balance Beam. R6/2 mice are slower to cross an elevated balance beam than WT littermates at 8 and 12 weeks of age (significant main effect of the R6/2 transgene at 8 weeks F(1,43)=68.36, p<0.0001 and 12 weeks F(1,40)=47.41, p<0.0001 of age), but this is not affected by C3 genotype (no significant main effect of C3 genotype at any age) and there is no significant interaction between the two factors.

D) Open field. R6/2 mice are less active in an open field than WT littermates (significant main effect of the R6/2 transgene at 4 weeks F(1,43)=38.47, p<0.0001, 8 weeks F(1,43)=36.83, p<0.0001 and 12 weeks F(1,40)=45.84, p<0.0001 of age), but this is not affected by C3 genotype (no significant effect of C3 genotype at any age) and there is no significant interaction between the two factors.

E) Weight. Genotype does not significantly impact weight at early time points, but R6/2 mice weigh significantly less than WT mice starting at 8.3 weeks of age (significant main effect of the R6/2 transgene F(1,43)=6.07, p=0.0178) and continuing through the course of the study. There is not a significant effect of C3 genotype at any age, and there is no significant interaction between the two factors.

F) Survival. Survival curves for R6/2;C3+/+ and R6/2;C3−/− were not significantly different (p=0.69).