Differential genetic regulation of motor activity and anxiety-related behaviors in mice using an automated home cage task.

摘要: Traditional behavioral tests, such as the open field test, measure an animal's responsiveness to a novel environment. However, it is generally difficult assess whether response obtained from these tests relates expression level of motor activity and/or avoidance anxiogenic areas. Here, automated home cage environment for mice was designed obtain independent measures levels and sheltered feeding preference during three consecutive days. Chronic treatment with anxiolytic drug chlordiazepoxide (5 10 mg/kg/day) in C57BL/6J reduced without altering levels. Furthermore, two distinct chromosome substitution strains, derived (host strain) A/J (donor inbred expressed either increased sheltering females (chromosome 15) or males 1) when compared C57BL/6J. Longitudinal monitoring revealed that phenotypic differences maintained after adaptation cage. Thus, by using new phenotyping approaches, behavior can be dissociated into domains (e.g., anxiety-related domains) different underlying genetic origin pharmacological responsiveness.