Dataset Information

Low home cage social behaviors in BTBR T+tf/J mice during juvenile development.

ABSTRACT: BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) is a genetically homogenous inbred strain of mice that displays abnormal social behaviors, deficits in vocalizations, and high levels of repetitive behaviors, relevant to the three diagnostic symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, leading to the use of this strain as a mouse model of autism. Comprehensive observations of BTBR social behaviors within the home cage during early stages of development have not been conducted. Here we evaluate the home cage behaviors of BTBR in two laboratory environments (NIMH, Bethesda, Maryland vs. UC Davis, Davis, California), starting from the day of weaning and continuing into adulthood. Extensive ethogram parameters were scored for BTBR in home cages that contained four BTBR conspecifics, versus home cages that contained four C57BL/6J (B6) conspecifics. BTBR were considerably less interactive than B6 in the home cage at both sites, as measured during the early dark stage of their circadian cycle. A novel home cage behavioral measure, frequency of long interactions, was found to be more frequent and of longer duration in B6 versus BTBR home cages across experimental sites. Significant strain differences in the occurrence of investigative and affiliative behaviors were also seen, however these findings were not fully consistent across the two testing sites. At the end of the 30-day home cage observation period, each seven-week old subject mouse was tested in the three-chambered social approach task. BTBR displayed lack of sociability and B6 displayed significant sociability, consistent with previous reports. Our findings reveal that BTBR engaged in lower levels of some components of spontaneous conspecific social interactions in the home cage environment throughout juvenile development, consistent with their deficits in juvenile and adult sociability as measured in specialized social tasks.

SUBMITTER: Babineau BA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3652551 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Low home cage social behaviors in BTBR T+tf/J mice during juvenile development.

Babineau Brooke A BA Yang Mu M Berman Robert F RF Crawley Jacqueline N JN

Physiology & behavior 20130317

BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) is a genetically homogenous inbred strain of mice that displays abnormal social behaviors, deficits in vocalizations, and high levels of repetitive behaviors, relevant to the three diagnostic symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, leading to the use of this strain as a mouse model of autism. Comprehensive observations of BTBR social behaviors within the home cage during early stages of development have not been conducted. Here we evaluate the home cage behaviors of BTBR in two ...[more]

PMID: 23510981

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Project description:The use of endotoxin, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a model of sickness behavior, has attracted recent attention. To objectively investigate sickness behavior along with its pain-like behaviors in LPS-treated mice, the behavioral measurement requires accurate methods, which reflects clinical relevance. While reflexive pain response tests have been used for decades for pain assessment, its accuracy and clinical relevance remain problematic. Hence, we used automated home-cage monitoring LABORAS to evaluate spontaneous locomotive behaviors in LPS-induced mice. LPS-treated mice displayed sickness behaviors including pain-like behaviors in automated home-cage monitoring characterized by decreased mobile behaviors (climbing, locomotion, rearing) and increased immobility compared to that of the control group in both short- and long-term locomotive assessments. Here, in short-term measurement, both in the open-field test and automated home-cage monitoring, mice demonstrated impaired locomotive behaviors. We also assessed 24 h long-term locomotor activity in the home-cage system, which profiled the diurnal behaviors of LPS-stimulated mice. The results demonstrated significant behavioral impairment in LPS-stimulated mice compared to the control mice in both light and dark phases. However, the difference is more evident in the dark phase compared to the light phase owing to the nocturnal activity of mice. In addition, the administration of indomethacin as a pharmacological intervention improved sickness behaviors in the open-field test as well as automated home-cage monitoring, confirming that automated home-cage monitoring could be potentially useful in pharmacological screening. Together, our results demonstrate that automated home-cage monitoring could be a feasible alternative to conventional methods, such as the open-field test and combining several behavioral assessments may provide a better understanding of sickness behavior and pain-like behaviors in LPS-treated mice.

Project description:BackgroundAlcohol withdrawal is a key component of severe alcohol use disorder. Animal models of alcohol withdrawal tend to focus on traditional anxiety/stress tests. While these have been essential to advancing our understanding of the biology of alcohol withdrawal, abrupt cessation of drinking following heavy alcohol consumption can also trigger withdrawal-related affective states that impact responses to a variety of life events and stressors. To this end, we show that behaviors in a variety of tasks that differ in task demand and intensity are altered during withdrawal in male and female mice after voluntary alcohol access.MethodsMale and female miceunderwent six weeks of intermittent two-bottle choice alcohol exposure followed by behavioral tests. The tests included-Home cage: low-stress baseline environment to measure spontaneous natural behaviors; Open field: anxiety-inducing bright novel environment; Looming disc: arena with a protective hut where mice are exposed to a series of discs that mimic an overhead advancing predator, and Robogator-simulated predator task: forced foraging behavioral choice in the presence of an advancing robot predator that "attacks" when mice are near a food pellet in a large open arena.ResultsA history of alcohol exposure impacted behaviors in these tasks in a sex-dependent manner. In the home cage, alcohol induced reductions in digging and heightened stress coping through an increase in grooming time. In males, increased rearing yielded greater vigilance/exploration in a familiar environment. The open-field test revealed an anxiety phenotype in both male and female mice exposed to alcohol. Male mice showed no behavioral alterations to the looming disc task, while females exposed to alcohol showed greater escape responses than water controls, indicative of active stress-response behaviors. In males, the Robogator task revealed a hesitant/avoidant phenotype in alcohol-exposed mice under greater task demands.ConclusionsFew drugs show robust evidence of efficacy in clinical trials for alcohol withdrawal. Understanding how withdrawal alters a variety of behaviors in both males and females that are linked to stress coping can increase our understanding of alcohol misuse and aid in developing better medications for treating individuals with AUD.

Dataset Information

Low home cage social behaviors in BTBR T+tf/J mice during juvenile development.

Publications

Low home cage social behaviors in BTBR T+tf/J mice during juvenile development.

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