Neuronal nitric oxide synthase knock-out mice show impaired cognitive performance
Section snippets
Animals
Protocols of experiments were approved by the Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur, Kommission für Tierversuchsangelegenheiten, Austria. All animals were housed in groups under controlled conditions of temperature, light, and humidity with food and water available ad libitum. Male mutant mice with targeted disruption of the nNOS gene (nNOS KO), showing >95% loss of NO production in the CNS [3] and wild-type (WT) animals C57BL/6J, which share >99.9% genetic similarity with the
NADPH-diaphorase enzyme histochemistry
WT animals exhibited in the caudate putamen and amygdaloid complex (particularly in the medial amygdala) an intense NADPH-d staining, which was virtually absent in nNOS KO animals and only spared in some blood vessels at the amygdaloid level. Similarly, NADPH-d staining was almost absent in nNOS KO in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus whereas WT mice showed an intense labelling. As expected, in nNOS KO mice NADPH-d staining was absent or greatly reduced at all remaining brain areas
Discussion
The major outcome of our study is the observation that genetic blockade of nNOS leads to impairment of cognitive functions (memory recall and relearning) under the stressful conditions of the MWM procedure.
Acknowledgements
We are highly indebted to the Red Bull Company, Salzburg, Austria, for generous support of the study. We kindly appreciate the contribution of the Verein “Unser Kind,” Verein zur Durchführung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung auf dem Gebiet der Neonatologie und Kinderintensivmedizin.
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