Behavioral Characterizing of CD24 Knockout Mouse—Cognitive and Emotional Alternations

Abstract

CD24 is a small, glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored cell surface protein, mostly investigated with respect to cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. CD24 knockdown or inhibition has been used to test various biochemical mechanisms and neurological conditions; however, the association between CD24 and behavioral phenotypes has not yet been examined. This study aims to characterize cognitive and emotional functions of CD24 knockout mice (CD24−/−) compared with CD24 wild-type mice at three time-points: adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. Our results show that CD24−/− mice exhibited better cognitive performance and less anxiety-like behavior compared with WT mice, with no effect on depression-like behavior. This phenotype was constant from childhood (2 months old) to adulthood (6 months old). The results from our study suggest that CD24 may influence important behavioral aspects at the whole-organism level, which should be taken into consideration when using CD24 knockout models.

Investigation of the shared molecular mechanisms and hub genes between myocardial infarction and depression

“…It was found that the level of CD24hi cells was correlated with the occurrence of myocardial infarction (38). Meanwhile, animal experiments showed that CD24 gene knockout improved anxiety-like behavior and cognitive performance in mice (39). In our study, the expression level of CD24 was also found to be increased in blood samples of patients with depression, suggesting that CD24 may be potentially related to emotional regulation.…”