Behavioral dysfunctions of Panx1^−/− mice.

<p>a, Pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI) showing a tendency towards lower levels in Panx1^−/− (n = 8) compared to Panx1^+/+ (n = 6) mice at the intensities of 62 and 64 dB. At the intensity of 72 dB, a statistically significant reduction of the PPI is detected. b, Object recognition was equivalent in both Panx1^+/+ and Panx1^−/− mice when the animals were allowed to explored two novel objects (A and B) for 5 minutes. c, One hour later control Panx1^+/+ mice explored the now familiar object A significantly less than the novel object C. By contrast, Panx1^−/− animals explored object C with significantly less intensity than object A. d, Cookie finding test: Training trials were performed on seven subsequent days, where in trial 1 and 2 a large cookie was used (500 mg), in trial 4 and 5 a smaller cookie (50 mg), and in trial 6 and 7 replaced by a very weak-odorous mouse chow. The time till the mice held the treat in their front paws is depicted in the bar diagram. Panx1^−/− performed equal to Panx1^+/+ mice in this experiment (P>0.05, Student’s t-test) e, A further trial was performed after training trails where no treat was hidden (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051767#pone.0051767.s008" target="_blank">Movie S1</a>). Bar graphs depict the mean distance of the mice to the location where the cookie was hidden during training trials for the first 60 s. Error bars represent SEM. n = 9 for each mouse group. Panx1 knock out mice have an impaired memory, as they spent less time searching at the correct position (P = 0.02). However, they still remembered the former location to some extent, as they spent significantly more time searching at the correct position as untrained animals (P<0.001, Student’s t-test).