Partial behavioral compensation is revealed in balance tasked mutant mice lacking otoconia
MDC de Caprona, KW Beisel, DH Nichols… - Brain research …, 2004 - Elsevier
We describe for the first time behavioral tests which show that mammals with congenital
absence of otoconia can learn a motor task that normally relies on gravity perception. The
mouse mutation tilted (tlt) occurs in the otopetrin 1 gene (Otop1tlt/tlt) and eliminates an
essential component necessary for the formation of otoconia. Our data show that even in the
absence of otoconia, tlt mutant mice, like normal mice, learn to cross a bar suspended
between two boxes and, with practice, improve their speed of crossing. Despite this learned …
absence of otoconia can learn a motor task that normally relies on gravity perception. The
mouse mutation tilted (tlt) occurs in the otopetrin 1 gene (Otop1tlt/tlt) and eliminates an
essential component necessary for the formation of otoconia. Our data show that even in the
absence of otoconia, tlt mutant mice, like normal mice, learn to cross a bar suspended
between two boxes and, with practice, improve their speed of crossing. Despite this learned …