Mice without enzyme were also less inquisitive.
Do you run when you should stay? Are you afraid of all the wrong things? An enzyme deficiency might be to blame, reveals new research in mice by scientists at the University of Southern California.
In a paper appearing in the October 2011 issue of the International Journal of Neuropharmacology, USC researchers show that mice lacking a certain enzyme due to genetic mutation are unable to properly assess threat. The mice exhibited defensive behaviors (such as biting or tail rattling) in the presence of neutral stimuli, such as plastic bottles.
Conversely, in the presence of true danger cues such as predator urine or an anesthetized rat, the mice with the enzyme mutation were less cautious and defensive than their littermates, even climbing on the unconscious rat.
Mice without the enzyme also took longer to leave an open chamber, indicating reduction in exploratory and escape tendencies.
"Taken together, our findings suggest that monoamine oxidase A deficiency leads to a general inability to appropriately assess contextual risk, as indicated by the inappropriateness of their defensive behaviors," said senior author Jean C. Shih, University Professor and Boyd and Elsie Welin Professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences in the USC School of Pharmacy.
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