The objectives of the Mouse Neurobehavior Core are three-fold. The first is to provide training in the use of mouse behavioral assays. The second goal is to provide access to the Neurobehavior core for BCM-IDDRC investigators interested in determining if there are behavioral abnormalities in their mutant mice. BCM-IDDRC investigators will have two options available to them for the behavioral analyses of their mutant mice.  Investigators will be able to either test their own mice, or they will be able to utilize core services to perform the behavioral analyses for them on a collaboration basis with Dr. Paylor’s lab.   This latter strategy is referred to as a collaborative service.   The third objective of the Neurobehavioral Core is to provide training in experimental design and statistical analyses that is customized for the mutant mouse behavioral analyses. 

While the ability of laboratories to use genetic and molecular techniques for generating mutant mouse models of cognitive and developmental disabilities have become more routine, the ability to perform comprehensive analyses of the behavioral responses of these mutant mice is still expensive, requires numerous pieces of specialized equipment and specially designed laboratory space, and proper training in the use of the equipment, experimental design, and statistical analyses.  It is the purpose of the Neurobehavior Core to provide access to a facility that is equipped with specialized equipment for behavioral studies, and the proper training to help ensure the successful analysis of the mutant mice generated by BCM-IDDRC investigators. In addition, a collaborative service is available to those BCM-IDDRC investigators interested in having the testing performed for them in collaboration with Dr. Paylor. 

The primary purpose of the BCM-IDDRC Neurobehavior Core is to provide BCM-IDDRC investigators with a battery of assays that will provide initial insight into the behavioral consequences of a specific mutation. In addition, the Neurobehavior Core will also provide access and training on the use of additional behavioral assays that will allow an BCM-IDDRC investigator to perform critical secondary or follow-up studies which are important to better understand the nature of any behavioral abnormality detected with a primary behavioral test battery.
 
Below is a listing of the various behavioral tests now available within the Neurobehavioral core:

Test/System                                                                                                              Domain of CNS function
               ACTIVITY/ANXIETY RELATED
               Photobeam activity system                                                                        (home cage locomotor activity)
               Open-field activity system                                                               (locomotor activity and unconditioned anxiety)
               Light-dark exploration                                                                                 (unconditioned anxiety)
               Elevated-plus maze                                                                                    (unconditioned anxiety)
               Mirror chamber                                                                                            (unconditioned anxiety)
               Blueberry bar test                                                                                        (novel food/neophobia)

               REPETITIVE/PERSEVERATIVE
               Marble-burying test                                                                                     (repetitive/perseverative behavior)
               Water T-maze                                                                                              (behavioral inhibition)
              CS Fear Extinction                                                                                       (behavioral inhibition, extinction learning)

               MOTOR COORDINATION/FUNCTION
               Rotarod                                                                                                                    (motor function)
               Wirehang                                                                                                                 (motor function)
               Dowel test                                                                                                                (motor function)
               Grid footslip test                                                                                                      (motor function)
               Grip Strength                                                                                                           (motor strength)
               Tremor meter                                                                                                           (motor function)

               SENSORY/SENSORITMOTOR
               Acoustic startle habituation                                                             (sensorimotor reflex)
               Prepulse inhibition                                                                            (sensorimotor gating)
           Hot plate                                                                                                  (analgesia-related sensory response)
               Tail flick                                                                                               (analgesia-related sensory response)
               Odor aversion cue                                                                             (odor sensitivity)

               LEARNING AND MEMORY
               Conditioned fear (automated)                                                          (conditioned fear and extinction)
               Morris water maze                                                                                       (learning and memory)
               Passive avoidance                                                                                      (learning and memory)
               Active avoidance                                                                                          (learning and memory)
               Water T-maze, trial-unique alternation                                (working memory)
               Novel object recognition                                                        (learning and memory)
               Y-maze (automated)                                                               (learning & memory)
               5-choice attention/operant response                                  (learning & memory; attention)
               Visual discrimination test                                                      (learning & memory)
               Conditioned place preference                                              (drug-induced preference)     

               SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
               Tube test                                                                                                       (social interaction)
               Partition test                                                                                                 (social interaction/social recognition)
               3-chamber test                                                                                            (social interaction)
               Resident-intruder                                                                                        (social interaction)
               Direct social interaction test                                                                      (social interaction)

               OTHER/MIXED
               Ultrasonic vocalization                                                                   (isolation-induced pup/mother communication)
               Tail suspension (automated)                                                       (behavioral despair/depression)
               Audiogenic seizures                                                                       (seizure susceptibility)

© 2003 Baylor College of Medicine - Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
Phone: (713) 798-7353    Fax: (713) 798-8704    Houston, Texas 77030    E-mail: mrddrc@bcm.tmc.edu
Modified January 2009