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. 2016 Jun 29;6:28548. doi: 10.1038/srep28548

Figure 1. Autistic-like behaviors of male ZnT3 null mice.

Figure 1

(a) A time-table to evaluate the autistic behavior in ZnT3 null or WT mice. The order for the behavior tests is 3-chamber social behavior test at PND32, marble burying test at PND34, and reciprocal social interaction test or open field test at PND36. (b) Tracking of the movements of mice in 3-chambered boxes. Male ZnT3 null mice moved less and interacted less with stranger 1 (social interaction test) and stranger 2 (social novelty test) than the male WT mice. (c) Bars denote the percent of exploration time in the chamber for stranger 1 (social interaction) or stranger 2 (social novelty) by male (right group) and female (left) WT and ZnT3 null mice (mean ± SEM, WT male, n = 24; KO male, n = 37; WT female, n = 11; KO female, n = 12, ***p < 0.001, n.s.: p < 0.05; two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test). Female WT and ZnT3 KO mice showed little difference in either test, whereas male ZnT3 KO mice spent significantly less time in the stranger chambers in both tests. (d) Reciprocal social interaction test. Compared with male WT mice, the ZnT3 null mice exhibited diminished total sniffing time. By contrast, female mice showed no difference compared with WT in total interaction time (mean ± SEM, WT male, n = 18; KO male, n = 28; WT female, n = 11; KO female, n = 14, **p < 0.01, n.s.: p > 0.05; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test, three-way repeated measures ANOVA). (e) Repetitive behavior: Marble-burying test. Bars indicate that the male ZnT3 null mice buried more marbles than male WT mice (mean ± SEM, WT male, n = 32; KO male, n = 18; WT female, n = 14; KO female, n = 13, **p < 0.01, n.s.: p > 0.05; two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test). (f) Open field test. Bars show the total distance moved and the time spent in the center. Male ZnT3 null mice moved less and spent less time in the center than male WT mice (mean ± SEM, WT male, n = 14; KO male, n = 15; WT female, n = 15; KO female, n = 10, *p < 0.05, n.s.: p > 0.05; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test).