Automated apparatus for quantitation of social approach behaviors in mice

Genes, Brain and Behavior - Tập 3 Số 5 - Trang 303-314 - 2004
Jessica J. Nadler1,2,3, Sheryl S. Moy4,2,3, Gemma. Dold5, Duyen T. Trang, Noah Nathan Simmons5, Antonio Pérez2,3, Nancy B. Young2,3, Ryan P. Barbaro1, Joseph Piven4,2,3, Terry Magnuson1,2,3, J N Crawley6,2,3
1Department of Genetics
2Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center,
3North Carolina STAART Center for Autism Research and
4Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
5Research Services Branch, National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and
6Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Tóm tắt

Mouse models of social dysfunction, designed to investigate the complex genetics of social behaviors, require an objective methodology for scoring social interactions relevant to human disease symptoms. Here we describe an automated, three chambered apparatus designed to monitor social interaction in the mouse. Time spent in each chamber and the number of entries are scored automatically by a system detecting photocell beam breaks. When tested with the automated equipment, juvenile male C57BL/6J mice spent more time in a chamber containing a stranger mouse than in an empty chamber (sociability), similar to results obtained by the observer scored method. In addition, automated scoring detected a preference to spend more time with an unfamiliar stranger than a more familiar conspecific (preference for social novelty), similar to results obtained by the observer scored method. Sniffing directed at the wire cage containing the stranger mouse correlated significantly with time spent in that chamber, indicating that duration in a chamber represents true social approach behavior. Number of entries between chambers did not correlate with duration of time spent in the chambers; entries instead proved a useful control measure of general activity. The most significant social approach behavior took place in the first five minutes of both the sociability and preference for social novelty tests. Application of these methods to C57BL/6J, DBA/2J and FVB/NJ adult males revealed that all three strains displayed tendencies for sociability and preference for social novelty. To evaluate the importance of the strain of the stranger mouse on sociability and preference for social novelty, C57BL/6J subject mice were tested either with A/J strangers or with C57BL/6J strangers. Sociability and preference for social novelty were similar with both stranger strains. The automated equipment provides an accurate and objective approach to measuring social tendencies in mice. Its use may allow higher‐throughput scoring of mouse social behaviors in mouse models of social dysfunction.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1017/S0033291700028099

10.1038/71641

10.1007/PL00014162

10.1016/S0031-9384(00)00403-0

10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00200-0

10.1016/j.brainres.2003.12.013

10.1080/00332747.1993.11024649

10.1016/0149-7634(94)00070-H

10.1007/s00335-001-2047-5

Crawley J.N., 2000, What's Wrong with My Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice

10.1037//0735-7036.104.2.174

10.1002/ajmg.a.20416

10.1093/schbul/18.1.59

10.1016/S0959-4388(97)80092-X

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-20-08278.2001

10.1038/35103559

10.1016/0376-6357(94)90060-4

10.1007/BF02359750

10.1007/s00335-001-4006

Kanner L., 1943, Autistic disturbances of affective contact, Nervous Child, 2, 217

10.1080/13682820310001615797

10.1034/j.1600-0447.108.s417.4.x

Marler P., 1968, Mechanisms of Animal Behavior

10.1007/BF02327579

10.1007/BF01067821

10.1007/BF02359751

10.1146/annurev.genom.1.1.461

10.1093/schbul/13.4.715

10.1037//0735-7036.110.2.131

Moy S.S., 2004, Sociability and preference for social novelty in five inbred strains: an approach to assess autistic‐like behavior in mice, Genes, Brain Behav, 3

10.1093/ilar.41.3.153

10.1176/appi.ajp.160.5.815

10.1002/1096-8628(20010108)105:1<34::AID-AJMG1052>3.3.CO;2-4

10.1007/s002130050349

Schloper E., 1987, Neurobiological Issues in Autism

10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00278-9

10.1002/da.10093

10.1176/appi.ajp.160.5.846

Tancer M.E., 1997, Role of serotonin drugs in the treatment of social phobia, J Clin Psychiatry, 58, 50

Tang A.C., 2003, Modification of social memory, hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis, and brain asymmetry by neonatal novelty exposure, J Neurosci, 23, 8254, 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-23-08254.2003

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Genes, Brain and Behavior

Tập 3 Số 5

303-314

Thông tin tác giả