Whisking Behaviour Reveals Stronger Evidence of Habituation in Homozygous Reeler Mice Compared to Controls.

Reeler mice have a mutation in the reelin gene. As a result, Reeler mice lack cortical layers, yet their brains are still largely functional. However, Reeler mice display strong motor phenotypes, including ataxic gait and tics, and we posit that their whisking behaviour might also be disrupted. We used high-speed video to film and track whisker movements in 9 adult Reeler mice and 9 age-matched controls in three whisker movement assessment tasks, including our established novel object exploratio...