Intensive longitudinal characterization of multidimensional biobehavioral dynamics in laboratory rats

Cell Reports

Nikos Logothetis¹  Mehrdad Hasanpour²  Ekaterina Mitricheva²  Hamid R. Noori² 

[1] International Center for Primate Brain Research, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT)/Institute of Neuroscience (ION), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China;Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany;

关键词: rat behavior;    state transitions;    automatic biobehavioral monitoring;    social interactions;    circatidal rhythms;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Summary: Rats have been used as animal models for human diseases for more than a century, yet a systematic understanding of basal biobehavioral phenotypes of laboratory rats is still missing. In this study, we utilize wireless tracking technology and videography, collect and analyze more than 130 billion data points to fill this gap, and characterize the evolution of behavior and physiology of group-housed male and female rats (n = 114) of the most commonly used strains (Lister Hooded, Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, and Wistar) throughout their development. The resulting intensive longitudinal data suggest the existence of strain and sex differences and bi-stable developmental states. Under standard laboratory 12-h light/12-h dark conditions, our study found the presence of multiple oscillations such as circatidal-like rhythms in locomotor activity. The overall findings further suggest that frequent movement along cage walls or thigmotaxic activity may be a physical feature of motion in constrained spaces, critically affecting the interpretation of basal behavior of rats in cages.

【 授权许可】

Unknown