A Behavioral Test Battery for the Repeated Assessment of Motor Skills, Mood, and Cognition in Mice

Summary

A comprehensive behavioral test battery of motor skills, mood—including social interaction, depression, and anxiety—and cognition is designed for the repeated assessment of neurodegeneration-related behavioral changes in mice.

Abstract

Pharmacological and toxicological studies in neurodegeneration require comprehensive behavioral analysis in mice because motor dysfunctions and dysfunctions in mood and cognition are common and often shared symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases. Shown here is a behavioral test battery for motor, mood, and cognition, which can be repeatedly tested in a longitudinal study. This battery assesses the overall behavioral phenotype in mice by examining each domain of behavior with at least two independent well-accepted tests (i.e., open-field test and rotarod test for motor function, social interaction test, elevated plus maze test, and forced swim test for emotional function, and Morris water maze test and novel object recognition test for cognitive function). Therefore, this sensitive and comprehensive test battery is a powerful tool for the study of behavioral alternation in neurodegeneration.

Introduction

Neurodegenerative diseases featured devastating behavioral symptoms, including cognitive impairment, mood dysfunctions such as anxiety and depression, or motor dysfunction¹. The pathogenesis of various kinds of neurodegenerative diseases is unclear². Accumulative studies indicate that genetic and environmental factors might both contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Identifying the risk factor of neurodegeneration requires behavioral analysis. Although each type of neurodegenerative disease has its signature behavioral symptom (e.g., Alzheimer's disease [AD] is featured with cognitive imp....

Protocol

All methods described here have been approved by the Committee on the Use of Live Animals in Teaching and Research (CULATR), the University of Hong Kong.

1. General protocol

NOTE: This section is based on Deacon¹⁹.

1. Behavioral room setup
   1. Get rid of unrelated stimulation/distraction, including direct bright light on the experimental apparatus, odor, noise, and other irrelevant animals, in the behavioral room (which should be about 10 m² with adjustable lighting and, preferably, have an anteroom).
      NOTE:

Results

This behavioral test battery was designed for the comprehensive and valid behavioral analysis of motor, mood, and cognition, which are commonly affected in neurodegeneration⁵. We have applied this battery to study the behavioral changes in young adult C57BL/6N mice after respiratory exposure to silica nanoparticles for 1 month and 2 months¹⁸. The results revealed that C57BL/6N mice exposed to silica nanoparticles showed various behavioral ch.......

Discussion

Behavioral analysis of mice is critical for neurodegeneration research. While cognitive function is often the most susceptible domain of behavior affected in neurodegenerative diseases, mood dysfunction, such as depression and anxiety, is often comorbid. Moreover, motor function often affects the interpretation of the results in some tests, such as the novel object recognition test, the elevated plus maze test, and the social interaction test. Based on these thoughts, a comprehensive behavioral test battery is required f.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
chambers in social interaction test	home made		(8 cm (L) x 6 cm (W) x 12 cm (H)), transparant with holes, plastic
cylindrical tanks used in forced swimming test	home made		30 cm height, 20 cm diameters, glass
elevated plus maze	home made		open arms (30 cm x 5 cm x 0.5 cm) ,closed arms (30 cm x 5 cm x 16 cm), center platform (5 cm x 5 cm x 0.5 cm), 40 cm tall. Plastic, nontransparant
IITC Roto-Rod Apparatus	IITC life science Inc.	755, series 8
open field arena	home made		60 cm (L) x 60 cm (W) x 40 cm (H), plastic, nontransparant
water maze	home made		120 cm in diameter, 60 cm deep, steel