Genetic aspects of animal reasoning

This paper reviews the investigations of Prof. L. V. Krushinsky and his colleagues into the genetics of complex behaviors in mammals. The ability of animals to extrapolate the direction of a food stimulus movement was investigated in wild and domesticated foxes (including different fur-color mutants), wild brown rats, and laboratory rats and mice. Wild animals (raised in the laboratory) were shown to be superior to their respective domesticated forms on performance of the extrapolation task, especially in their scores for the first presentation, in which no previous experience could be used. Laboratory rats and mice demonstrated a low level of extrapolation performance. This means that only a few laboratory animals were capable of solving the task, i.e., the percentage of correct solutions was equivalent to chance. The brain weight selection program resulted in two mice strains with a 20% (90-mg) difference in brain weight. Ability to solve the extrapolation task was present in low-brain weight mice in generations 7–11 but declined with further selection. Investigation of extrapolation ability in mice with different chromosomal anomalies demonstrated that animals with Robertsonian translocations Rb(8,17) 1lem and Rb(8,17) 6Sic were capable of solving this task in a statistically significant majority of cases, while mice with fusion of other chromosomes, as well as CBA normal karyotype mice, performed no better than expected by chance. Mice with two types of partial trisomies and animals homo- and heterozygous for translocations were also tested. Although mice with T6 trisomy performed no better than expected by chance, animals with trisomy for a chromosome 17 fragment solved the task successfully. Thus, a genetic component underlying the ability to solve the extrapolation task was demonstrated in three animal species. The extrapolation task in animals is considered to reveal a general capacity for elementary reasoning. The genetic basis of this capacity is very complex.     

Synthesis and Biological Activity of Triazolides

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal -     

Behavior of Rats of Two Strains Contrasting in Terms of “Audiogenic Epilepsy”

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Behavior in the open field test was compared in rats of two strains differing in terms of the manifestation of convulsions in response to sound (audiogenic...     

Isolation and characterization of collagen-binding domains from human von Willebrand factor

DNA fragments that encode two collagen-binding decapeptides from human von Willebrand factors vWF-H1 and vWF-H2 were cloned in Escherichia coli cells. The effective chimeric proteins vWF(H1)-CBD and vWF(H2)-CBD, which produce strains that contain corresponding decapeptide sequences, Gly-Ser spacer, and a cellulose-binding domain (CBD) from Anaerocellum thermophilum were constructed. Highly purified samples of vWF(H1)-CBD and vWF(H2)-CBD proteins were obtained using the one-stage purification method on cellulose and their ability to bind collagen was studied. The obtained constructions are planned to for use in the development of recombinant collagen-binding proteins with different biological activity, which will be used for the further development of a new generation of products and materials for medical purposes, e.g., various kids of implants and coatings.     

Nociceptive thresholds in adult rats of three strains after pain stimulation in the neonatal period

Nociceptive thresholds in the tail-flick test decreased in adult 2.5-month-old KM, Wag/Rij, and Wistar rats receiving injections of placebo in the neonatal period (days 3-9 of life).     

Genotype-dependent characteristics of behavior in mice in cognitive tests. The effects of Noopept

Male C57BL/6J, BALB/c, and DBA/2J mice showed differences in their abilities to perform two cognitive tests. C57BL/6J mice had good learning ability and memory trace retention (at 10 days) in a simplified Morris maze, while BALB/c mice had low levels of memory trace retention and DBA/2J mice had low learning ability in this test. I.p. administration of the nootropic agent Noopept (GVS-111, N-phenylacetyl-L-prolylglycine ethyl ester) at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg 15 min before the start of the test induced significant improvements in long-term memory in this test in BALB/c mice but no further improvement in C57BL/6J mice, and had no effect in DBA/2J mice. On testing the ability to extrapolate the direction of movement of a stimulus, administration of Noopept increased the proportion of correct responses in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice, but had no effect in DBA/2J mice. Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel'nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 57, No. 6, pp. 721–728, November–December, 2007.     

Differences in the training capacity of 101/H and CBA mice in a water labyrinth (Modified Morris' test)

The rate of formation of the habit of search for submerged platform was studied by the modified Morris' test in 101/H and CBA mice. The former strain was trained slower than the latter; in addition, 101/H mice of different sexes differed by the time of latent periods of searching for the platform. The results are interpreted as a manifestation of genetically determined disorders of training and/or memory in 101/H mice. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 124, No. 12, pp. 666–668, December, 1997