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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Aug 10.
Published in final edited form as: J Neurosci. 2010 Feb 10;30(6):2115–2129. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4517-09.2010

Figure 3. NL1 KO Mice Exhibit Impaired Spatial Memory in the Morris Water Maze.

Figure 3

(A-D) Training trials for the Morris water maze task. For each day of training, data were averaged across the 4 daily trials, and in all 3-way mixed ANOVAs, “day” was treated as the repeated measure. NL1 KO mice displayed an abnormal learning curve as measured by distance to reach the submerged platform compared to WT [A, 3-way Mixed ANOVA: genotype (between-subjects factor): p< 0.0089, sex (between-subjects factor): p=0.61, day (within-subjects factor): p<0.000001, genotype × sex interaction: p=0.92, genotype × day interaction: p=0.65, sex × day interaction: p=0.50, genotype × sex × day interaction: p=0.89]. The latency to reach the platform (B) was normal in the NL1 KO mice [3-way Mixed ANOVA: genotype (between-subjects factor): p = 0.47, sex (between-subjects factor): p=0.65, day (within-subjects factor): p<0.000001, genotype × sex interaction: p=0.74, genotype × day interaction: p=0.93, sex × day interaction: p=0.11, genotype × sex × day interaction: p=0.50]. NL1 KO mice exhibited faster average swim speeds (C) than controls [3-way Mixed ANOVA: genotype (between-subjects factor): F(1,42)=4.59, p< 0.038, sex (between-subjects factor): p=0.14, day (within-subjects factor): p<0.000001, genotype × sex interaction: p=0.94, genotype × day interaction: p=0.88, sex × day interaction: p=0.89, genotype × sex × day interaction: p=0.82]. Percent time spent near the wall of the maze (D, % thigmotaxis) was not different across groups [3-way Mixed ANOVA: genotype (between-subjects factor): p = 0.95, sex (between-subjects factor): p=0.82, day (within-subjects factor): p<0.000001, genotype × sex interaction: p=0.99, genotype × day interaction: p=0.60, sex × day interaction: p=0.78, genotype × sex × day interaction: p=0.96]. There were no differences between groups in the visible platform task (see Supplemental Figure 2). N = 23 littermate pairs. Legend in A also applies to Panels B-D. (E) Percent of time that mice spent swimming in each quadrant of the pool during the probe trial (i.e. spatial memory test) on day 12 of the Morris water maze [3-way Mixed ANOVA: sex (between-subjects factor): p=0.22, genotype (between-subjects factor): p=0.84, quadrant (within-subjects factor): p<0.000001, sex × genotype interaction: p=0.84, sex × quadrant interaction: p=0.53, genotype × quadrant interaction: p<0.02, sex × genotype × quadrant interaction: p=0.96]. NL1 KO mice spent less time in the target quadrant than controls (*p <0.037 for NL1 KO target vs. WT target, planned comparisons) and, unlike control mice (#p<.05 compared to all other quadrants, planned comparisons) showed no preference for the target quadrant, indicating a deficit in spatial memory. N = 23 littermate pairs. Data represent means +/− SEM.