Behavioral phenotyping of mixed background (129S5:B6) relaxin-3 knockout mice

Abstract

Experimental studies in rats have revealed that the neuropeptide relaxin-3 modulates feeding and metabolism, stress responses, arousal, and exploratory behavior. In the present study, two cohorts of mixed background (129S5:B6) relaxin-3 knockout (KO) and wild-type littermate mice were subjected to a series of behavioral tests. Relaxin-3 KO mice appeared healthy and displayed no genotype differences in body weight, motor coordination (as determined via the rotarod), anxiety (light/dark box, elevated plus maze, large open field), spatial memory (Y-maze), or sensorimotor gating (prepulse inhibition). Female KO mice did, however, display hypoactivity, reflected by significantly shorter distances..