GPER-Deficient Rats Exhibit Lower Serum Corticosterone Level and Increased Anxiety-Like Behavior

Figure 1

GPER-deficient rats exhibit deficits in learning and memory. (a) Comparison of the latency to find the platform and the percentage of time in the target quarter in Morris water maze test between WT and GPER^-/- rats ( for each group). Note that in the positioning navigation period, GPER^-/- rats spent more time to find the platform than WT rats. (b) Protocol of the IntelliCage test to evaluate learning and memory of female WT () and GPER^-/- () rats. (c) Comparison of the number of corner visits in IntelliCage free exploration (FE) period between female WT and GPER^-/- rats. The left panel shows the number of corner visits of individual rats, and the right panel shows the averaged number of corner visits of WT and GPER^-/- rats. (d) Comparison of the number of licks, nosepokes, and visits in the nosepoke learning (NL) period between female WT and GPER^-/- rats. Note that GPER^-/- rats showed fewer number of licks, nosepokes, and visits than WT rats, indicating decreased basic skill learning ability. (e) Comparison of the error rate of corner visits in the place learning (PL) period between WT and GPER^-/- rats, with the GPER^-/- group showing higher error rate of corner visits. (f) Comparison of the error rate of corner visits in the replace learning (Re-PL) period between WT and GPER^-/- rats, with the GPER^-/- rats showing higher error rate than WT rats. , , and , unpaired -test.

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