Fig. 6

Cr removal impairs whisker-associated tactile sensation behavior. a Cr KO mice needed more time to reach the destination (incubation) and spent more time exploring the opening area before exiting the curve in the S curve test (exploration time; Cont, n = 13; KO, n = 8). b Cr KO mice spent more time finding the adhesive paper stuck on the palmar surface of their hind paws (incubation) and spent more time removing the paper (Cont, n = 13; KO, n = 11). c–e In the texture discrimination test, the control mice preferred to stay with the smooth glass bottle, but the Cr KO mice did not exhibit any preference for either corner (c). Neither control nor Cr KO mice exhibited any preference for either corner when identical bottles were presented (d, e; Cont, n = 9; KO, n = 11). f–i The distances crossed by Cr KO mice in the gap-crossing test were significantly shorter than those crossed by control mice (f); even though the groups had identical weights (g), the control mice performed better than the Cr KO mice (h). This test was performed under infrared lighting conditions (i; Cont, n = 9; KO, n = 11). Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. a–b and d–g, unpaired Student’s t-test. c Multiple Student’s t-test with Bonferroni correction. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001