Missing gene creates obsessive-compulsive mouse

A MOUSE that grooms itself till its fur comes out may give us clues to what causes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in humans.

Around 2 per cent of people have OCD, but while there is thought to be a familial link, so far no genes have been found.

Now Guoping Feng at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and his colleagues have created a mouse that lacks a gene called Sapap3. This is expressed in the striatum – an area of the brain that controls cognitive processes such as planning and initiating appropriate actions, and has been linked…