New measures of social interactions for ecoHAB cage

• Autorzy: Maka J. , Puscian A. , Knapska E. , Wojcik D.K.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

INTRODUCTION: Eco-HAB is an open source system for automated measurements and analysis of social preferences and in-cohort sociability in mice. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals. In Eco-HAB, group-housed mice live in a spacious, four-compartment, resembling natural burrows. It allows an assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower needed and without confounding factors. AIM(S): The aim of the of this study is to develop measures for the EcoHAB system, which could well describe social relations in a group of mice. We test the proposed measures in experiments with four FX WT and three FX KO groups. We expected that FX KO mice would have disturbed social skills comparing to FX WT. METHOD(S): We developed a dedicated workflow for analysis of social interactions based on analysis of the decision patterns. For each pair of mice, one mouse is a leader, the other is a follower. After the leader changes the room, the follower’s reaction in a 3-second window is analysed. If the follower acts on the leader’s movement and follows it, the pattern is classified as “following”; otherwise it is “evasion”. Lack of follower’s reaction is ignored. The numbers of interactions for each pair and distribution of the patterns were obtained. To characterize the relations between the mice in selected time windows we used binomial model. We also studied changes of these relation in time and their distribution in mice groups. RESULTS: Our study proved that FX KO mice have significantly less interactions within a pair than FX WT. What’s more, FX WT are following each other more often and the character of interaction is more stable. CONCLUSIONS: EcoHAB is a good environment for conducting advanced analysis of mice social interactions. Proposed measures show significant difference between WT and KO group and are a promising tool to study social interactions.

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis
• Rocznik: 2017
• Tom: 77
• Numer: Suppl.1
• Opis fizyczny: p.131-132

Twórcy

autor

Maka J.

• Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
• Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

autor

Puscian A.

• Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

autor

Knapska E.

• Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

autor

Wojcik D.K.

• Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland