Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2008) 16 OC5.9

ECE2008 Oral Communications Reproduction (9 abstracts)

Cognitive disabilities in the novel object task of male mice carrying a supernumerary X chromosome (41, XX*Y)

Joachim Wistuba 1, , Oliver Damm 1,2 , C Marc Luetjens 1, , Manuela Simoni 1, , Eberhard Nieschlag 1, & Lars Lewejohann 1,


1Abteilung für Verhaltensbiologie und Otto Creutzfeldt Center, Münster, Germany; 2Institut für Reproduktionsmedizin, Münster, Germany.


Introduction: Several numerical chromosome abberations are known in men. Of those the karyotype XXY (Klinefelter syndrome KS) is the most common chromosomal disorder with a prevalence of about one in 500 live-born males. KS is associated with hypogonadism and is suspected to cause variable physical and cognitive abnormalities. As a supernumerary X chromosome is also associated with infertility, sound animal models for KS are difficult to obtain.

Methods: Male mice with two X chromosomes (XX*Y) were derived from fathers carrying a structurally rearranged Y chromosome (Y*) that resulted in close attachment of a part of the Y chromosome to one X. These animals seem to mimic physiological features of the human KS. The aim of this study was a behavioral characterization of this mouse model. Therefore, 15 XX*Y males and 15 XY* controls were subjected to a battery of behavioral tests including a general health check, analysis of spontaneous exploration and locomotor activity, measures for anxiety related behavior and the novel object task to test memory performance.

Results and discussion: All mice appeared healthy. XX*Y mice did not differ from their wildtype littermates with respect to locomotion, exploration and anxiety related behavior. XX*Y male mice, however exhibited no significant learning performance in contrast to wildtype XY* males which readily learned the task. These findings support the idea that the presence of a supernumerary X in male mice influences cognitive abilities and that the 41, XX*Y mouse model can also be utilized to study X chromosomal imbalance and cognition experimentally.

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