By virtue of the synteny between mouse and human, identifying genes that regulate behavioral responses in mice will provide important insights into the function of these genes in man. However, because behavioral responses are different between inbred strains of mice, the success of future studies using mouse models to identify genes underlying behavioral traits will require investigators to carefully choose the background strain for creating any particular mutation. Thus, it will be important for investigators to have sufficient information about the behavioral responses of different inbred strains of mice on a wide variety of assays. The objective of the research in this proposal is to characterize the behavioral responses of at least 6 inbred strains of mice on a wide variety of behavioral tests, and to develop a database that is easily accessed by investigators across the world.
Three specific aims have been formulated to reach this objective. The first specific aim is to characterize the behavioral responses of inbred mice on a high-throughput behavioral test battery.
The second aim i s to develop clusters of behavioral assays specific to particular domains of CNS function that can be used as a secondary screen to further understand behavioral phenotypes of mutant mice. Six inbred strains will be characterized on each cluster developed under Specific Aim 2. The final specific aim is to characterize developmental profiles for several behavioral responses in different inbred strains of mice. Studying the development of behavior will provide important insights into the maturation of the processes underlying behavior, and will provide critical information for future studies with mutant mice that could eventually save thousands of research dollars. Findings from these aims will provide an important set of data on inbred strains of mice that will be critical to future studies developing mouse genetic models to better understand the genetic basis for several behavioral abnormalities associated with different human diseases.
| Bouwknecht, J Adriaan; van der Gugten, Jan; Groenink, Lucianne et al. (2004) Effects of repeated testing in two inbred strains on flesinoxan dose-response curves in three mouse models for anxiety. Eur J Pharmacol 494:35-44 |
| Bouwknecht, J Adriaan; van der Gugten, Jan; Groenink, Lucianne et al. (2004) Behavioral and physiological mouse models for anxiety: effects of flesinoxan in 129S6/SvEvTac and C57BL/6J mice. Eur J Pharmacol 494:45-53 |
