Figure 3.
Normal motor activity, exploration, and anxiety in new environment in Dicer1CaMKCreERT2 mutant mice. A, Time to fall off rod rotating with increasing speed. The rotarod test revealed similar motor coordination and balance of mutant mice and their control littermates (F(1,22) = 0.482; p = 0.495). B, Number of squares crossed in the open-field test. Five minutes of activity did not differ between genotypes because both groups moved comparable distance (data not shown) and crossed similar number of squares (F(1,22) = 0.534; p = 0.473). C, Relative time (percentage) spent in zones of the elevated plus maze. Mutant and control mice explored the open arms of apparatus for most of the time (F(1,22) = 0.307; p = 0.585). Time in center zone (F(1,22) = 2.007; p = 0.171) and in closed arms (F(1,22) = 0.022; p = 0.883) showed no difference in anxiety level. D, During adaptation to sweetened water in IntelliCage, mice of both genotypes spent similar time drinking water (F(1,21) = 0.073; p = 0.789). E, Basal home cage circadian activity measured as an average number of visits from 7 d in each hour showed normal higher activity in active phase and lower activity in inactive phase in mice of both genotypes (F(1,21) = 0.632; p = 0.436). Data are shown as mean ± SEM.