The in vivo Behavioral Assessment Core will provide both service-oriented behavioral phenotyping and research staff training to investigators using rodents. One of the major goals of the Core will be the development and operation of a consolidated facility in which transgenic mice can reliably and consistently be tested using the most-accepted battery of behavioral tests, the SHIRPA (Rogers et al., 1997), along with expanded maze testing. The battery will include a primary behavioral screen, sensory and motor tests (including rotorod, spontaneous locomotor activity, walking coordination, etc.), an open field test for emotionality and exploratory activity and cognitive testing (including elevated plus-maze, Morris water maze, holeboard maze and eight-arm radial maze tasks). Most of the tasks will be automated, thereby greatly decreasing any potential investigator bias from the results. In most instances, the Initial phenotyping of a transgenic line will be carried out by the staff of the Core, who will be blinded to the genetic background of the mice. In those instances in which the investigator is interested in further characterizing the detailed behavior of a line of mice or a treatment, the staff and Director will train personnel from the investigator's lab to conduct more extensive studies, using the equipment of the Core. The Core will provide a similar assessment of rat behavior in apparatuses designed for these animals. For both rats and mice, the Core will, when deemed appropriate, test the animals using more sophisticated cognitive tasks for characterizing small differences between groups. For all animals tested, the Core will provide initial statistical analyses of resulting data in the reports to the investigators. The Core will also afford research personnel from the participating laboratories the opportunity to train in the use of these behavioral testing methods. This will particularly benefit investigators who require extended testing beyond the complexity offered in the standardized protocols of the Core. The Core will also assist investigators in the development of tools that are needed by them for a more detailed assessment of specific behaviors.
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