IMR Press / FBL / Volume 13 / Issue 15 / DOI: 10.2741/3118

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article

"Sighted C3H" mice – a tool for analysing the influence of vision on mouse behaviour?

Show Less
1 Institute of Developmental Genetics, Helmholtz Center Munich - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
2 Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Center Munich - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
3 Institute of Human Genetics, Helmholtz Center Munich - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
4 Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstr. 2, 80804 Munich, Germany
5 Friedrich-Baur-Institute, Dept. of Neurology, University of Munich, Ziemssenstr. 1a, 80336 Munich, Germany
6 Dept. of Medicine III, University Heidelberg of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

 

Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2008, 13(15), 5810–5823; https://doi.org/10.2741/3118
Published: 1 May 2008
Abstract

It is unclear what role vision plays in guiding mouse behaviour, since the mouse eye is of comparably low optical quality, and mice are considered to rely primarily on other senses. All C3H substrains are homozygous for the Pde6brd1 mutation and get blind by weaning age. To study the impact of the Pde6brd1 mutation on mouse behaviour and physiology, sighted C3H (C3H.Pde6b+) and normal C3H/HeH mice were phenotyped for different aspects. We confirmed retinal degeneration 1 in C3H/HeH mice, and the presence of a morphologically normal retina as well as visual ability in C3H.Pde6b+ mice. However, C3H.Pde6b+ mice showed an abnormal retinal function in the electroretinogram response, indicating that their vision was not normal as expected. C3H.Pde6b+ mice showed reduced latencies for several behaviours without any further alterations in these behaviours in comparison to C3H/HeH mice, suggesting that visual ability, although impaired, enables earlier usage of the behavioural repertoire in a novel environment, but does not lead to increased activity levels. These results emphasize the importance of comprehensive behavioural and physiological phenotyping.

Share
Back to top