| First Author | Dere E | Year | 2004 |
| Journal | Eur J Neurosci | Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 1051-8 |
| PubMed ID | 15305873 | Mgi Jnum | J:101300 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3603723 | Doi | 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2004.03546.x |
| Citation | Dere E, et al. (2004) Changes in motoric, exploratory and emotional behaviours and neuronal acetylcholine content and 5-HT turnover in histidine decarboxylase-KO mice. Eur J Neurosci 20(4):1051-8 |
| abstractText | Histamine has been implicated, inter alia, in mechanisms underlying arousal, exploratory behaviour and emotionality. Here, we investigated behavioural and neurochemical parameters related to these concepts, including open-field activity, rotarod performance and anxiety, as well as brain acetylcholine and 5-HT concentrations of mice deficient for the histidine decarboxylase (HDC) gene. These mice are unable to synthesize histamine from its precursor histidine. The HDC-knockout mice showed reduced exploratory activity in an open-field, but normal habituation to a novel environment. They behaved more anxious than the controls, as assessed by the height-fear task and the graded anxiety test, a modified elevated plus-maze. Furthermore, motor coordination on the rotarod was superior to controls. Biochemical assessments revealed that the HDC-knockout mice had higher acetylcholine concentrations and a significantly higher 5-HT turnover in the frontal cortex, but reduced acetylcholine levels in the neostriatum. These results are suggestive of important interactions between neuronal histamine and these site-specific neurotransmitters, which may be related to the behavioural changes found in the HDC-deficient animals. |
