Fig. 4

Gde2KO mice exhibit social motivation and spatial working memory deficits. A Schematic of social motivation test. The stimulus mouse and toy are only present during the social motivation trial. B Total time spent in mouse and toy areas during social motivation trial at 11 months. A significant effect of genotype is seen (three-way mixed design ANOVA, F(1,67) = 5.58, P < 0.022), with WT mice showing an increase in time spent by the mouse area compared to the toy area (Fisher LSD post-hoc P < 0.0003) while Gde2KO mice showed no difference in time spent between the two areas (Fisher LSD post-hoc P > 0.05). C Total distance traveled during the duration of the social motivation trial in each compartment. No effect of genotype or its interactions were detected (ANOVA, Ps > 0.05). D–G Y Maze spatial memory analysis. D, E Total percent time spent in novel vs. new arm during trial 2 (D) and dynamics at 7 months. WT and Gde2KO mice spent significantly more time in the novel arm compared to the old arm (ANOVA, effect of arm, F(1, ≥ 23) > 18.58, P < 0.0003) with the largest difference during the first minute. F, G The same measures and analyses as in D and E, respectively, for 16-month-old mice. Again, WT and Gde2KO mice spent significantly more time in the novel arm compared to the old arm (ANOVA, effect of arm, F(1, ≥ 23) > 38.95, P < 0.0001). WT mice show a preference for the novel arm throughout the 5-min trial while Gde2KO mice only show a preference for the novel arm at the start. All graphs are means ± SEM; ns, P > 0.05; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001. See Additional file 2: Table S1 for statistical details. Schematic in A created in BioRender.com