Working-for-Food Behaviors: A Preclinical Study in Prader-Willi Mutant Mice

Glenda Lassi, Silvia Maggi, Edoardo Balzani, Ilaria Cosentini, Celina Garcia-Garcia, Valter Tucci

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Abnormal feeding behavior is one of the main symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). By studying a PWS mouse mutant line, which carries a paternally inherited deletion of the small nucleolar RNA 116 (Snord116), we observed significant changes in working-for-food behavioral responses at various timescales. In particular, we report that PWS mutant mice show a significant delay compared to wild-type littermate controls in responding to both hour-scale and seconds-to-minutes-scale time intervals. This timing shift in mutant mice is associated with better performance in the working-for-food task, and results in better decision making in these mutant mice. The results of our study reveal a novel aspect of the organization of feeding behavior, and advance the understanding of the interplay between the metabolic functions and cognitive mechanisms of PWS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1129-1138
Number of pages10
JournalGenetics
Volume204
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2016

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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