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. 2003 Sep 16;100(19):11019-22.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1633773100. Epub 2003 Aug 20.

Genetic contributions to generalized arousal of brain and behavior

J Garey  1 , A Goodwillie, J Frohlich, M Morgan, J-A Gustafsson, O Smithies, K S Korach, S Ogawa, D W Pfaff
Affiliations

Genetic contributions to generalized arousal of brain and behavior

J Garey et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

We have identified a generalized arousal component in the behavior of mice. Analyzed by mathematical/statistical approaches across experiments, investigators, and mouse populations, it accounts for about 1/3 of the variance in arousal-related measures. Knockout of the gene coding for the classical estrogen receptor (ER-alpha), a ligand-activated transcription factor, greatly reduced arousal responses. In contrast, disrupting the gene for a likely gene duplication product, ER-beta, did not have these effects. A combination of mathematical and genetic approaches to arousal in an experimentally tractable mammal opens up analysis of a CNS function of considerable theoretical and practical significance.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Simplified schematic of the concepts embodied in Eq. 1. Generalized arousal of the brain coupled with each specific form of arousal fosters that specific type of biologically motivated behavior. Note that the concept allows for interactions among arousal states; e.g., alterations in sexual arousal could influence response to pain.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
α-ERKO female mice were less aroused by vestibular, tactile, olfactory, or auditory stimuli than their littermate WT controls (see Statistics). *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01. This result was not true of β-ERKO females. Complete databases can be found at www.rockefeller.edu/labheads/pfaff/pfaff-lab.html. Note that none of the comparisons of the β-ERKO with β-WT females were statistically significant. Therefore, there was a marked difference between the results with α-ERKO and β-ERKO mice. In fact, a nonsignificant trend for the β-ERKO females in the opposite direction (see www.rockefeller.edu/labheads/pfaff/pfaff-lab.html) can be seen in the full datasets.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Comparisons of locomotor activity among genotypes. (A) Older α-ERKO females (35 wk) were significantly less motorically active on running wheels in their home cages, compared with their WT littermate controls (P < 0.01). (B) This result was not true of younger animals (14 wk). Further comparisons of β-ERKO females with their littermate WT controls yielded no significant differences (data not shown).
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