Ethological analysis of the senescence-accelerated P/8 mouse

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ethological analysis of the senescence-accelerated P/8 mouse

AU - Brandewiede, Joerg

AU - Schachner, Melitta

AU - Morellini, Fabio

PY - 2005/3/7

Y1 - 2005/3/7

N2 - Behaviour of senescence-accelerated (P/8) and resistant (R/1) mice was assessed using an ethological approach in a longitudinal study for exploratory and anxiety related behaviours (home cage activity, open field, elevated plus-maze and new object tests), cognitive abilities (step-down and step-through passive avoidance and water maze tests) and visual acuity (visible cliff test). Overall, P/8 mice showed higher activity induced by new environmental stimuli, higher anxiety and lower novelty seeking behaviour in the new object test than R/1 mice. P/8 mice showed an impaired performance as compared to R/1 mice in two passive avoidance tasks. Behavioural alterations of P/8 mice were already apparent at the age of 10-12 weeks. Factor analyses indicated that the impairment of P/8 mice in passive avoidance tasks relates to their altered exploratory and anxiety-related behaviour rather than to cognitive impairments. In the water maze, both strains performed badly in the visible platform task, suggesting poor visual abilities in both strains as supported by the visible cliff test. We conclude that, for a better interpretation of cognitive abilities of P/8 mice, tests not based on novelty-induced behaviour, visual acuity and good motor skills should be used. Finally, we question whether P/8 mice could be a model of some forms of neuropsychiatric disorders resulting from developmental abnormalities rather than aging.

AB - Behaviour of senescence-accelerated (P/8) and resistant (R/1) mice was assessed using an ethological approach in a longitudinal study for exploratory and anxiety related behaviours (home cage activity, open field, elevated plus-maze and new object tests), cognitive abilities (step-down and step-through passive avoidance and water maze tests) and visual acuity (visible cliff test). Overall, P/8 mice showed higher activity induced by new environmental stimuli, higher anxiety and lower novelty seeking behaviour in the new object test than R/1 mice. P/8 mice showed an impaired performance as compared to R/1 mice in two passive avoidance tasks. Behavioural alterations of P/8 mice were already apparent at the age of 10-12 weeks. Factor analyses indicated that the impairment of P/8 mice in passive avoidance tasks relates to their altered exploratory and anxiety-related behaviour rather than to cognitive impairments. In the water maze, both strains performed badly in the visible platform task, suggesting poor visual abilities in both strains as supported by the visible cliff test. We conclude that, for a better interpretation of cognitive abilities of P/8 mice, tests not based on novelty-induced behaviour, visual acuity and good motor skills should be used. Finally, we question whether P/8 mice could be a model of some forms of neuropsychiatric disorders resulting from developmental abnormalities rather than aging.

KW - Age Factors

KW - Aging

KW - Analysis of Variance

KW - Animals

KW - Anxiety

KW - Avoidance Learning

KW - Behavior, Animal

KW - Cognition

KW - Ethology

KW - Exploratory Behavior

KW - Factor Analysis, Statistical

KW - Locomotion

KW - Maze Learning

KW - Mice

KW - Mice, Neurologic Mutants

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Reaction Time

KW - Species Specificity

KW - Time Factors

KW - Visual Acuity

U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2004.08.012

DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2004.08.012

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 15680199

VL - 158

SP - 109

EP - 121

JO - BEHAV BRAIN RES

JF - BEHAV BRAIN RES

SN - 0166-4328

IS - 1

ER -