Behavioural profiles of inbred mouse strains used as transgenic backgrounds. I: motor tests

One of the characteristic manifestations in several neurodegenarative diseases is the loss of voluntary motor control and the development of involuntary movements. In order to determine the suitability of six mouse strains as transgenic background strains we investigated performance on a variety of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes, brain and behavior brain and behavior, 2004-08, Vol.3 (4), p.206-215
Main Authors: Brooks, S. P., Pask, T., Jones, L., Dunnett, S. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Arousal - physiology
Backgrounds
footprint
Gait - genetics
Gait - physiology
Genetic Engineering
Habituation, Psychophysiologic - genetics
Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Inbred C3H
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Inbred CBA
Mice, Inbred DBA
Mice, Inbred Strains
Mice, Transgenic
Models, Animal
motor tests
Neural Inhibition - genetics
Neural Inhibition - physiology
PPI
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time
Reflex, Startle - genetics
Reflex, Startle - physiology
rotarod
Rotarod Performance Test
Species Specificity
startle
strain comparison
swim
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Summary:One of the characteristic manifestations in several neurodegenarative diseases is the loss of voluntary motor control and the development of involuntary movements. In order to determine the suitability of six mouse strains as transgenic background strains we investigated performance on a variety of tasks designed to identify subtle changes in motor control. On both the accelerating and the staggered speed rotarod all six mouse strains performed well. However, latency to fall from the rod was sensitive to both rotarod speed and repeated exposure to the apparatus. Performance of the DBA/2 mouse strain was highly variable across the time points used. On the acoustic startle test CBA mice showed the greatest degree of reactivity to the acoustic startle stimuli with both the C57 and DBA showing the least. Complex strain differences were also identified on measures of habituation to the startle stimuli and variations in the prepulse noise level, and prepulse/startle delay. Gait analysis using the footprint test did not reveal strain differences on measures of base width, overlap or stride length but the 129S2/Sv strain took significantly longer to traverse the runway than the other mouse strains. Finally, the swim tank test detected complex strain differences in swim speed, and the number of fore‐ and hindpaw paddles required to swim the length of the tank. These data taken together suggest that choice of background strain is a crucial consideration for the repeated behavioural assessment of motor deficits in transgenic mouse models of disease.
ISSN:1601-1848
1601-183X
DOI:10.1111/j.1601-183X.2004.00072.x