Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics; Centre for Rare Diseases, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Genes Brain Behav. 2014 Mar;13(3):305-21. doi: 10.1111/gbb.12093. Epub 2013 Nov 4.
Behavioral characterization is an important part of establishing novel animal models, but classical behavioral tests struggle to reveal conclusive results due to problems with both reproducibility and validity. On the contrary, automated homecage observations are believed to produce robust outcomes that relate more to natural animal behavior. However, information on the behavior of background strains from such observations, which could provide important reference material, is rare. For this reason, we compared the behavior of the commonly used Lister Hooded, Lewis, Fischer 344 and Wistar rats during 70 h of exposure to an automated homecage system at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. We found considerable strain differences in metabolic parameters, novelty-induced and baseline activity-related behavior as well as differences in the development of these parameters with age. The results are discussed in terms of advantages and disadvantages of the system compared to classical behavioral tests, as well as the system's ability to recreate common findings in literature.
行为特征是建立新型动物模型的重要组成部分，但由于可重复性和有效性问题，经典行为测试难以得出明确的结果。相反，自动化笼内观察被认为可以产生更符合自然动物行为的可靠结果。然而，关于这些观察中背景品系行为的信息很少，这些信息可以提供重要的参考材料。出于这个原因，我们比较了常用的 Lister Hooded、Lewis、Fischer 344 和 Wistar 大鼠在 2、4 和 6 个月大时暴露于自动化笼内系统 70 小时期间的行为。我们发现代谢参数、新奇诱导和基线活动相关行为以及这些参数随年龄发展的差异在不同品系之间存在显著差异。结果从与经典行为测试相比，该系统的优缺点以及该系统再现文献中常见发现的能力方面进行了讨论。
