A Simple and Fast Battery Test for Phenotypic Characterization of Mice

Abstract

Despite the great number of test batteries already known to assess the behavior of genetically modified and inbred strains of mice, only a few of them focus on basic neurological parameters. The purpose of the battery test proposed is to settle a specific methodology to characterize the phenotype of neurological disease models in mutant or genetically modified mice. This methodology is simple and efficient in order to analyze several parameters, including general activity, sensory nervous system, sensorimotor system, central nervous system and autonomous nervous system. This can aid the choice of specific additional tests as well as the determination of an interrelationship among phenotypic alterations observed. Although being efficient for a first analysis of a mouse model, interpretation of the results must be carefully made because phenotype manifestation may vary due to many parameters, including mouse strain, environmental and housing condition, animal-experimenter interaction, sample size and tests order. It is important to consider as a critical point if handling procedures are aversive. The results acquired with the analysis of 18 parameters together provide preliminary data to characterize mouse phenotype and helps selecting more specific tests.

Genetically modified mice for research on human diseases: A triumph for Biotechnology or a work in progress?

“…Mutations can arise spontaneously through DNA copying errors during cell division or can be induced by exposure to radiation or by chemical mutagens, such as N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) (96). Mutations can be identified using high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies (97) and the phenotypes of these mutants characterized by comprehensive phenotyping assays (98)(99)(100) and by behavioural phenotyping assays (101)(102)(103)(104). Mutant mice are designated with the name of the background strain, the affected gene and the mutant allele as well as the location where the strain was derived.…”