Morphological and behavioral evidence for impaired prefrontal cortical function in female CB1 receptor deficient mice.

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is known to regulate higher order processes like cognitive flexibility. Accumulating behavioral evidence suggests that endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling regulates neuronal architecture within the PFC, as well as certain forms of cognitive flexibility; however, all of these studies have been performed in male rodents and it is currently unknown whether the eCB system performs a similar role in females. To this extent, dendritic morphology of layer II/III neurons in the infra- and prelimbic regions of the mPFC was analyzed and cognitive ability and flexibility in a fixed-platform Morris water maze task was assessed in adult female CB1 receptor knockout (CB1KO) mice.

Cage change influences serum corticosterone and anxiety-like behaviors in the mouse.

Environmental variables and husbandry practices can influence physiology and alter behavior in mice. Our study evaluated the effects of cage change on serum corticosterone levels and anxiety-like behaviors in C57BL/6 male mice. We examined the effects of 3 different methods of performing cage transfer and of transferring mice to a clean or a dirty familiar cage microenvironment.