Acquisition of Avoidance Responding in the Fmr1 Knockout Mouse

Maria G. Valdovinos^1*, Kelly Ippolito¹, Lauren Nawrocki², Greg Woods², Craige C. Wrenn³

¹Department of Psychology, Drake University, Des Moines, USA.
²Neuroscience Program, Drake University, Des Moines, USA.
³Department of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical, and Administrative Sciences, Drake University,Des Moines, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2010.15045                

Abstract

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation. Much work has been done characterizing the behavioral phenotype of the animal model of FXS, the Fmr1 knockout mouse. However, very little literature exists on knockout performance in the active avoidance task. This study evaluated if Fmr1 knockouts differed from wild type littermates in avoidance acquisition. Data revealed no difference in acquisition between knockouts and wild types.

Keywords

Fragile X Syndrome, Fmr1 Knockout, Active Avoidance

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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