Fig. 1: Effects of age and apoE isoform on fear learning. | Molecular Psychiatry

Fig. 1: Effects of age and apoE isoform on fear learning.

From: Age, sex, and apolipoprotein E isoform alter contextual fear learning, neuronal activation, and baseline DNA damage in the hippocampus

Fig. 1

A Schematic of the experimental design. B Average baseline motion in males during the initial 2 min of fear conditioning. There was a main effect of apoE isoform (p = 0.037, F(2,60) = 3.480), driven by E2 vs. E3 (p = 0.042). There was no effect of age (p = 0.927) and no interaction (p = 0.571). C Average baseline motion in females. There was a main effect of apoE isoform (p = 0.006, F(2,130) = 5.301), driven by E3 vs. E4 (p < 0.001). Middle aged mice moved more than young mice (p < 0.001); there was no interaction (p = 0.403). D Average motion during the two shocks in males. Middle aged mice moved more than young mice (p = 0.0055, F(1,60) = 8.246). There were no apoE isoform differences (p = 0.068) and no interaction (p = 0.458). E Average motion during the two shocks in females. Middle aged mice moved more than young mice (p < 0.0001, F(1,130) = 23.25). There were no apoE isoform differences (p = 0.070) and no interaction (p = 0.317). F Percent time freezing during the ISIs in males. There was an effect of time (p < 0.001, F(1,60) = 22.842), isoform (p = 0.005, F(2,60) = 5.90), age (p < 0.001, F(1,60) = 19.087), and a time-by-isoform interaction (p = 0.043, F(2,60) = 3.318). E4 mice froze more than E2 (p = 0.008) and E3 (p = 0.014) mice. G Percent time freezing during the ISIs in females. There was an effect of time (p < 0.001, F(1,130) = 165.030), isoform (p < 0.001, F(2,130) = 10.258), and a time-by-isoform interaction (p = 0.049, F(2,130) = 3.087). E4 mice froze more than E2 (p = 0.002) and E3 (p < 0.001) mice. H Z-scores of cFos-positive cells in the entire brain of young, female mice. There was a main effect of apoE isoform (p = 0.020, F(2,26) = 4.573), driven by E2 vs. E4 (p = 0.0319) and a trend in E3 vs. E4 (p = 0.0664). I Z-scores of cFos-positive cells in all regions involved in contextual fear learning in young, female mice. There was a main effect of apoE isoform (p = 0.0172, F(2,26) = 4.773), driven by E2 vs. E4 (p = 0.0270) and E3 vs. E4 (p = 0.0434) mice. Behavioral data are presented as mean ± SEM. cFos immunoreactivity data are presented as minimum to maximum boxplots. Each point represents an individual animal. #p < 0.07, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001.

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