In the present study, we examined the function of ADAM11 by generating mice that lacked the Adam11 gene. It has been reported that the Adam11 gene is expressed in the brain, heart, liver and testis, as manifested in Northern blot analysis [19]. Interestingly, ADAM11-deficient mice appeared normal and survived more than one year without apparent histological abnormality, including the brain, heart, liver and testis. The expression patterns of the Adam11 gene in the brain have been studied using in situ hybridisation [25]. This study has shown high expression of ADAM11 mRNA in the hippocampus and cerebellum. We therefore focused on examining the hippocampus- and cerebellum-dependent behavioural tests to study the functions of ADAM11 in the nervous system.