Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorJacobs, Stephanie A.
dc.contributor.authorTsien, Joe Z.
dc.date.accessioned2012-10-26T16:40:49Z
dc.date.available2012-10-26T16:40:49Z
dc.date.issued2012-04-27en_US
dc.identifier.citationPLoS One. 2012 Apr 27; 7(4):e36387en_US
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203en_US
dc.identifier.pmid22558458en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0036387en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10675.2/707
dc.description.abstractThe ability to learn and remember conspecifics is essential for the establishment and maintenance of social groups. Many animals, including humans, primates and rodents, depend on stable social relationships for survival. Social learning and social recognition have become emerging areas of interest for neuroscientists but are still not well understood. It has been established that several hormones play a role in the modulation of social recognition including estrogen, oxytocin and arginine vasopression. Relatively few studies have investigated how social recognition might be improved or enhanced. In this study, we investigate the role of the NMDA receptor in social recognition memory, specifically the consequences of altering the ratio of the NR2Bâ ¶NR2A subunits in the forebrain regions in social behavior. We produced transgenic mice in which the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor was overexpressed postnatally in the excitatory neurons of the forebrain areas including the cortex, amygdala and hippocampus. We investigated the ability of both our transgenic animals and their wild-type littermate to learn and remember juvenile conspecifics using both 1-hr and 24-hr memory tests. Our experiments show that the wild-type animals and NR2B transgenic mice preformed similarly in the 1-hr test. However, transgenic mice showed better performances in 24-hr tests of recognizing animals of a different strain or animals of a different species. We conclude that NR2B overexpression in the forebrain enhances social recognition memory for different strains and animal species.
dc.rightsJacobs, Tsien. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_US
dc.subjectResearch Articleen_US
dc.subjectBiologyen_US
dc.subjectModel Organismsen_US
dc.subjectAnimal Modelsen_US
dc.subjectMouseen_US
dc.subjectMolecular Cell Biologyen_US
dc.subjectSignal Transductionen_US
dc.subjectMembrane Receptor Signalingen_US
dc.subjectNeurotransmitter Receptor Signalingen_US
dc.subjectNeuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectCellular Neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectIon Channelsen_US
dc.subjectCognitive Neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectCognitionen_US
dc.subjectConsciousnessen_US
dc.subjectAnimal Cognitionen_US
dc.subjectBehavioral Neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectLearning and Memoryen_US
dc.subjectSocial and Behavioral Sciencesen_US
dc.subjectSociologyen_US
dc.subjectSocial Networksen_US
dc.subject.meshAnimalsen_US
dc.subject.meshAnimals, Genetically Modifieden_US
dc.subject.meshGene Expressionen_US
dc.subject.meshHabituation, Psychophysiologicen_US
dc.subject.meshMaleen_US
dc.subject.meshMiceen_US
dc.subject.meshProsencephalonen_US
dc.subject.meshProtein Subunitsen_US
dc.subject.meshRatsen_US
dc.subject.meshReceptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartateen_US
dc.subject.meshRecognition (Psychology)en_US
dc.subject.meshSocial Behavioren_US
dc.subject.meshSocial Isolationen_US
dc.subject.meshSpecies Specificityen_US
dc.titleGenetic Overexpression of NR2B Subunit Enhances Social Recognition Memory for Different Strains and Speciesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC3338680en_US
dc.contributor.corporatenameBrain & Behavior Discovery Institute
dc.contributor.corporatenameDepartment of Neurology
refterms.dateFOA2019-04-10T00:38:15Z
html.description.abstractThe ability to learn and remember conspecifics is essential for the establishment and maintenance of social groups. Many animals, including humans, primates and rodents, depend on stable social relationships for survival. Social learning and social recognition have become emerging areas of interest for neuroscientists but are still not well understood. It has been established that several hormones play a role in the modulation of social recognition including estrogen, oxytocin and arginine vasopression. Relatively few studies have investigated how social recognition might be improved or enhanced. In this study, we investigate the role of the NMDA receptor in social recognition memory, specifically the consequences of altering the ratio of the NR2Bâ ¶NR2A subunits in the forebrain regions in social behavior. We produced transgenic mice in which the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor was overexpressed postnatally in the excitatory neurons of the forebrain areas including the cortex, amygdala and hippocampus. We investigated the ability of both our transgenic animals and their wild-type littermate to learn and remember juvenile conspecifics using both 1-hr and 24-hr memory tests. Our experiments show that the wild-type animals and NR2B transgenic mice preformed similarly in the 1-hr test. However, transgenic mice showed better performances in 24-hr tests of recognizing animals of a different strain or animals of a different species. We conclude that NR2B overexpression in the forebrain enhances social recognition memory for different strains and animal species.


Files in this item

Thumbnail
Name:
pone.0036387.pdf
Size:
294.0Kb
Format:
PDF

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record