Fig. 3.

Suppression of α-syn reverses anxiety-related behavior in A30P mice. (A) Spontaneous locomotor behavior was analyzed over a 10 min period by using video-tracking software. Although mice did not show significant differences in locomotor behavior, A30P mice (n = 9) revealed tendency to visit the center area less frequently when compared to respective controls (ctl, n = 6). (B) Next, A30P mice were exposed to the fox-like odor TMT to stimulate fear related behavior. Decreased time spent in the center implies enhanced anxiety (p < 0.05). Aversive behavior to the TMT odor was unchanged as both tested groups significantly avoided the corner with TMT (p< 0.05). (B) Note decrease in center paths of an A30Pmouse exposed to TMT (arrows indicate odor corner) when compared to ctl in representative track panels. (C) Visual cliff avoidance of 2 months-old A30P mice and ctl was measured by estimating time spent on the closed bench side and brightly lid open side of the elevated visual cliff held. The cartoon in (C) shows set-up of apparatus used. (D) As expected, both ctl (p < 0.01) and A30P mice (p < 0.001) avoided the open side when compared to bench side; however there was a significant effect of genotype, showing that A30P spent more time at the bench side (p < 0.01) and less time at the open side (p < 0.01) when compared to ctl. Suppression of α-syn transgene expression reversed the anxiety-like behavior, as no significant difference was detected between dox-treated groups. Data are displayed as mean + SEM (*p < 0.05 One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison post-hoc analysis).