Deficient Purposeful Use of Forepaws in Female Mice Modelling Rett Syndrome

Figure 4

Nest building abilities in RTT female mice. (a) MeCP2-308 female mice (Het, ) built nests of significantly poorer quality compared to wild-typecontrols (wt, ). The quality of the nest was evaluated at 2 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 7 days after the introduction of nesting material into the cage (scores: 0 = bad quality; 4 = high quality). (b) The analysis of spontaneous behaviour in the home-cages revealed that Het mice more frequently interacted with the material with their mouth only, a condition which was rarely observed in wt controls. (c) The simultaneous and coordinated use of the mouth and the forepaws needed to build a high quality nest was deficient in Het mice compared to wt littermates. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. .

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