| First Author | Kalueff AV | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | J Neurogenet | Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 1-24 |
| PubMed ID | 16076629 | Mgi Jnum | J:109821 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3629866 | Doi | 10.1080/01677060590949683 |
| Citation | Kalueff AV, et al. (2005) Abnormal behavioral organization of grooming in mice lacking the vitamin D receptor gene. J Neurogenet 19(1):1-24 |
| abstractText | Vitamin D is a steroid hormone with several important functions in the nervous system. Numerous human and animal data link alterations in the vitamin D system to various behavioral disorders. Grooming is an important element of rodent behavior with a general pattern of cephalocaudal progression (paw licking - nose/face wash - body wash - tail/genitals wash). Here we studied whether genetic ablation of vitamin D nuclear receptors (VDR) in mice may be associated with altered behavioral sequencing of grooming. Overall, VDR null mutant mice showed abnormal grooming, including a higher percentage of 'incorrect' transitions and longer duration of 'incorrect' grooming (contrary to the cephalocaudal progression); a higher percentage of interrupted grooming bouts; and the atypical regional distribution of grooming (more leg grooming, less body and tail/genitals grooming), compared to their wild-type controls. Grooming of heterozygous mice was similar to the wild-type group, indicating that abnormal grooming patterning is inherited as a recessive. In contrast, behavioral sequencing of another complex behavior (mating with a female) was unaltered in all three genotypes, suggesting grooming-specific abnormal sequencing in these mutant mice. Our results suggest that a neurosteroid vitamin D and VDR may play an important role in controlling sequencing of grooming in mice, and further confirm the important role of the vitamin D system and VDR in the regulation of behavior. |
