1. ObjectivesThe Neurobehavioral Core is an existing MRDDRC Core at BCM and has been in operation for approximately9 years. The Neurobehavioral Core received a very positive review during the most recent review of MRDDRCCenter (reviewed in 2003). The entire Neurobehavioral Core portion of that MRDDRC Center application isincluded in the appendix for reference.Briefly, the objectives of the MRDDRC Neurobehavior Core are three-fold. The first is to provide training in theuse of mouse behavioral assays. The second goal is to provide access to the Neurobehavior core for MRRCinvestigators interested in determining if there are behavioral abnormalities in their mutant mice. MRRCinvestigators 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 thebehavioral analyses for them. The third objective is to provide training in experimental design and statisticalanalyses that is customized for the mutant mouse behavioral analyses.While the ability of laboratories to use genetic and molecular techniques for generating mutant mouse modelsof mental retardation have become more routine, the ability to perform comprehensive analyses of thebehavioral responses of these mutant mice is still expensive, requires numerous pieces of specializedequipment 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 toa facility that is already equipped with the specialized equipment for behavioral studies, and the proper trainingto help ensure the successful analysis of the mutant mice generated by MRRC investigators.The primary purpose of the MRRC Neurobehavior Core is to provide MRRC investigators with a battery ofassays that will provide initial insight into the behavioral consequences of a specific mutation. In addition, theNeurobehavior Core will also provide access and training on the use of other behavioral assays that will allowan MRRC investigator to perform critical secondary or follow-up studies which are important to betterunderstand the nature of any behavioral abnormality detected with the primary behavioral test battery.The MRRC at Baylor College of Medicine is now well established in studying the behavioral responses ofmutant mice. Dr. Paylor was involved in the first ever study of a knockout mouse (Silva et al, 1991) and hassince evaluated the behavioral responses of over 100 different mutant lines of mice. Since the inception of theNeurobehavioral Core, a number of reports have been published by many Baylor investigators utilizing Coreresources, but here we only reference those by Drs Paylor and Nelson because they are members of the FXSCenter (Selcher et al, 1999, Peier et al 2000; Prakash et al 2000; Weeber et al, 2000; Paylor et al, 2001;Selcher et al 2001; Bontekoe et al, 2002; Broide et al 2002; Franceschini, et al 2002; Gu et al 2002;Shahbazian, et al 2002; Wang et al, 2002; Watase et al 2002; Cox et al, 2003; Salas et al 2003; Marubio andPaylor, 2004; Walz et al 2004; Moretti et al 2005; Spencer et al 2005; Davis et al 2006; Eichers et al 2006;Ichiko et al 2006; Paylor et al 2006; Spencer et al 2006; Walz et al 2006)Users of MRRC Neurobehavior Core will have access to a wide array of assays to assess the followingbehavioral responses: home-cage monitoring of circadian activity, locomotor activity, anxiety-relatedresponses, depression-related responses, sensorimotor gating, startle, motor function, social responses, and arange of learning and memory-based performance assays.The Neurobehavioral Core Serving the FXS Center Projects.The objective of the Neurobehavioral Core in the FXS Center is to (1) provide access to behavioral testequipment and expertise in design, implementation, and analysis of behavioral results for FXS Center Projects,and (2) perform experiments using pharmacological interventions for FXS Core Projects. It is important to notethat objective 2, performing pharmacological experiments for FXS Center Projects, is a new addition to theexisting Core, and is only available for FXS Projects.
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