| First Author | Kim JJ | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 94 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 5929-33 |
| PubMed ID | 9159177 | Mgi Jnum | J:40922 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:892641 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.94.11.5929 |
| Citation | Kim JJ, et al. (1997) Selective enhancement of emotional, but not motor, learning in monoamine oxidase A-deficient mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 94(11):5929-33 |
| abstractText | Mice deficient in monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), an enzyme that metabolizes monoamines such as norepinephrine and serotonin, have elevated norepinephrine and serotonin levels in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum, compared with normal wild-type mice, Since monoamines in these areas are critically involved in a variety of behaviors, we examined learning and memory (using emotional and motor tasks) in MAOA mutant mice, The MAOA- deficient mice exhibited significantly enhanced classical fear conditioning (freezing to both tone and contextual stimuli) and step-down inhibitory avoidance learning. In contrast, eyeblink conditioning was normal in these mutant mice, The female MAOA-deficient mice also displayed normal species-typical maternal behaviors (nesting, nursing, and pup retrieval), These results suggest that chronic elevations of monoamines, due to a deletion of the gene encoding MAOA, lead to selective alterations in emotional behavior. |
