Abstract: Male and female NR2B transgenic mice and their littermate controls were subjected to the social interaction test in a novel environment, sociability test and social novelty test. There was no significant difference in social interaction test in a novel environment and social novelty test among these four groups. However, compared with wild type mice, female but not male NR2B transgenic mice exhibited improvement in sociability. These results suggest that NR2B overexpression in the forebrain can improve sociability of female mice, while having no significant effect on social behaviors in male mice.

Key words: NR2B, transgenic mice, social interaction, sociability, social novelty