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. 2016 Nov 29;5:e17361. doi: 10.7554/eLife.17361

Figure 2. Satb2 is required for long-term memory formation.

(A) In a contextual fear conditioning paradigm, Satb2 cKO mice (cKO), showed (i) similar levels of freezing to Satb2flox/flox mice (Ctrl) during the fear-acquisition phase (cKO, n = 7; Ctrl, n = 6; repeated measures ANOVA, F3,33 = 0.76, p = 0.52) and at the 1 hr fear expression test (Student's t test, t11 = 0.19, p = 0.86) but (ii) froze significantly less than their littermate controls at the 24 hr fear expression test (cKO, n = 8; Ctrl, n = 8; repeated measures ANOVA, F3,42 = 0.36, p = 0.778; Student's t test, t14 = 4.88, p = 0.0002). Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n values refer to the number of mice per group, *p < 0.05. (B) Object location memory test. (i) Scheme of the experiment. (ii) Satb2 cKO mice (n = 11) and control mice (n = 10) exhibited similar preference for the novel location over the familiar location at the 1 hr memory retention test (Student's t test, t19 = 0.46, p = 0.65). (iii) Satb2 cKO mice (n = 8) showed reduced preference for the novel location over the familiar location at the 24 hr memory retention test (Student's t test, t14 = 2.89, p = 0.011) compared to Satb2flox/flox mice (n = 8). The relative exploration time is expressed as a percent discrimination index (D.I. = (tnovel location − tfamiliar location) / (tnovel location + tfamiliar location) × 100%). Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n values refer to the number of mice, **p < 0.01. (C) Novel object recognition test. (i) Scheme of the experiment. (ii) Satb2 cKO mice (n = 10) and control mice (n = 9) exhibited a similar preference for the novel over the familiar object at the 1 hr memory retention test (Student's t test, t19 = 1.11, p = 0.28). (iii) Satb2 cKO mice (n = 8) spent less time exploring the novel object at the 24 hr memory retention test (Student's t test, t14 = 3.0, p = 0.009) compared to Satb2flox/flox mice (n = 8). The relative exploration time is expressed as a percent discrimination index (D.I. = (tnovel object− tfamiliar object) / (tnovel object+ tfamiliar object) × 100%). Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n values refer to the number of mice, *p < 0.05.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17361.005

Figure 2.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1. Satb2 cKO mice show normal responses to electric foot shock.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1.

Flinch-Jump test revealed similar general responses to electric foot shock between Satb2 cKO mice (n = 5) and control littermates (n = 5), Student’s t-test, flinch: t8 = 0, p = 1.0, run/jump: t8 = 0.25, p = 0.81, vocalize: t8 = 0.24, p = 0.82. Mice were scored for their first visible response to the shock (flinch), their first pronounced motor response (run or jump), and their first vocalized distress as described in Materials and Methods. Data are presented as mean ± SEM.