Stathmin: Loss of Fear Factor Makes Timid Mouse Bold

HHMI News: Loss of Fear Factor Makes Timid Mouse Bold: "Working in mice, the scientists, led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Eric R. Kandel at Columbia University, found that the protein stathmin is critical for both innate and learned fear. Mice without stathmin boldly explore environments where normal mice would be hesitant, and, unlike their normal counterparts, fail to develop a fear of cues that have been associated with electric shock. The scientists also found physiological changes in the brains of mice lacking stathmin that correlate to the behavioral changes they observed."