Abstract

The proposed studies focus on establishing an objective, standardized, and high-throughput method for quantifying open field exploratory behavior in the mouse. Conventional assessment of general activity derived from open field studies will be extended to include new, ethologically relevant measures that will be computed from automatically measured time-series of animal location. These measures will define behavioral patterns that comprise the temporal and spatial structure of mouse exploratory behavior and identify which patterns have the highest potential as a phenotyping tool. The discrimination power of these measures will be tested on 17 of the most used inbred mouse strains. A database of mouse exploratory behavior will be established as well as a standard protocol. The protocol, database, and user-friendly software that will include already tested algorithms, will be made available to researchers in the field on a freely accessible website.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS040234-02
Application #
6394468
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-I (01))
Program Officer
Leblanc, Gabrielle G
Project Start
2000-04-01
Project End
2003-03-31
Budget Start
2001-04-01
Budget End
2002-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$139,750
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Tel Aviv University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Tel Aviv
State
Country
Israel
Zip Code
69978

  Publications

Horev, G; Benjamini, Y; Sakov, A et al. (2007) Estimating wall guidance and attraction in mouse free locomotor behavior. Genes Brain Behav 6:30-41
Fonio, E; Benjamini, Y; Sakov, A et al. (2006) Wild mouse open field behavior is embedded within the multidimensional data space spanned by laboratory inbred strains. Genes Brain Behav 5:380-8
Kafkafi, Neri; Benjamini, Yoav; Sakov, Anat et al. (2005) Genotype-environment interactions in mouse behavior: a way out of the problem. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:4619-24
Kafkafi, N; Elmer, G I (2005) Texture of locomotor path: a replicable characterization of a complex behavioral phenotype. Genes Brain Behav 4:431-43
Lipkind, Dina; Sakov, Anat; Kafkafi, Neri et al. (2004) New replicable anxiety-related measures of wall vs center behavior of mice in the open field. J Appl Physiol 97:347-59
Hen, Itay; Sakov, Anat; Kafkafi, Neri et al. (2004) The dynamics of spatial behavior: how can robust smoothing techniques help? J Neurosci Methods 133:161-72
Kafkafi, Neri; Pagis, Michal; Lipkind, Dina et al. (2003) Darting behavior: a quantitative movement pattern designed for discrimination and replicability in mouse locomotor behavior. Behav Brain Res 142:193-205
Kafkafi, Neri (2003) Extending SEE for large-scale phenotyping of mouse open-field behavior. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 35:294-301
Drai, D; Golani, I (2001) SEE: a tool for the visualization and analysis of rodent exploratory behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 25:409-26
Drai, D; Kafkafi, N; Benjamini, Y et al. (2001) Rats and mice share common ethologically relevant parameters of exploratory behavior. Behav Brain Res 125:133-40

Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications