Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism

Puścian, Alicja; Łęski, Szymon; Kasprowicz, G.; Winiarski, M.; Borowska, Joanna; Nikolaev, Tomasz; Boguszewski, Paweł M.; Lipp, Hans‐Peter; Knapska, Ewelina

doi:10.7554/elife.19532

Cited by 46 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(61 reference statements)

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“…There is compelling evidence that some strains are more “social” than others. Some tend to group together more than others and/or engage in more social interactions . However, almost all of them display some level of sociability (ie, preference to explore other mice over inanimate objects).…”

Section: Sociabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also huge inter‐strain variability in aggressiveness . Finally, in the laboratory, mice are more often than rats kept in large groups (ie, more than 10 animals), which facilitates studying high‐order social behaviors which cannot be reduced to interactions within dyads, for example, emergence of social networks …”

Section: Sociabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The role of social context can be modeled and tested in automated systems that measure social interactions in animals living in groups. Such systems are becoming more and more popular . One of them is the Eco‐HAB, which we have developed to follow social interactions of mice.…”

Section: Transmitting Information About Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each animal carries a transponder with a unique number, which allows for tracing individual behavior of each animal. The system, which is equipped with software for data acquisition and analysis, offers the easy and fast way of investigating between‐strain and between‐genotype differences in sociability in mice . Tracing individual behaviors of mice allows also for controlling the position of mice in social hierarchy, as well as shows that mice respond to fear of others (unpublished data).…”

Section: Transmitting Information About Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent technological advancements, both in manipulating brain activity and automatic analysis of behavior, made investigating social interactions much more accessible, which partially explains the rapid growth of this field of research. Despite the availability of technologies permitting the design of more elaborate paradigms, the majority of papers published in social neuroscience are still based on very simple behavioral measures, for example, time spent on exploring a social stimulus . The attractiveness of this approach lies in a high level of control over experimental conditions and relatively low labor‐intensity of such studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice

Kondrakiewicz

Kostecki

Szadzinska

et al. 2018

Genes Brain and Behavior

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Different rat and mouse models are used in studies of social interactions. Simple behavioral measures, which are commonly used in the laboratory, allow to perform relatively short experiments and to use multiple brain manipulation techniques. However, too much focus on the simplest behavioral models generates a serious risk of reducing ecological validity or even studying phenomena which would never happen outside of the laboratory. In this review, we discuss the suitability of mice and rats as model organisms for studying social behaviors, with focus on social transmission of fear paradigms. First, we briefly introduce the concept of domestication and what impact it had on laboratory rodents. Then, we present two aspects of social behaviors, sociability and dominance, which are crucial for social organization in these species. Finally, we present experimental models used for studying how animals transmit information about danger between each other, and how these models may reflect what happens in the natural environment. We discuss the difficulties that arise from our limited knowledge of rat and mouse ecology, especially their social life. We also explore the subject of balancing ecological validity and controllability in rodent models of social behaviors, the latter being particularly important for studying brain activity. Although it is very challenging, an efficient program for social neuroscience research should, in our opinion, aim at bridging the gap between laboratory and field studies.

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Section: Sociabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sociabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transmitting Information About Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transmitting Information About Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice

Kondrakiewicz

Kostecki

Szadzinska

et al. 2018

Genes Brain and Behavior

Self Cite

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SRF depletion in early life contributes to social interaction deficits in the adulthood

Roszkowska

Krysiak

Majchrowicz

et al. 2022

Cell. Mol. Life Sci.

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Alterations in social behavior are core symptoms of major developmental neuropsychiatric diseases such as autism spectrum disorders or schizophrenia. Hence, understanding their molecular and cellular underpinnings constitutes the major research task. Dysregulation of the global gene expression program in the developing brain leads to modifications in a number of neuronal connections, synaptic strength and shape, causing unbalanced neuronal plasticity, which may be important substrate in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders, contributing to their clinical outcome. Serum response factor (SRF) is a major transcription factor in the brain. The behavioral influence of SRF deletion during neuronal differentiation and maturation has never been studied because previous attempts to knock-out the gene caused premature death. Herein, we generated mice that lacked SRF from early postnatal development to precisely investigate the role of SRF starting in the specific time window before maturation of excitatory synapses that are located on dendritic spine occurs. We show that the time-controlled loss of SRF in neurons alters specific aspects of social behaviors in SRF knock-out mice, and causes deficits in developmental spine maturation at both the structural and functional levels, including downregulated expression of the AMPARs subunits GluA1 and GluA2, and increases the percentage of filopodial/immature dendritic spines. In aggregate, our study uncovers the consequences of postnatal SRF elimination for spine maturation and social interactions revealing novel mechanisms underlying developmental neuropsychiatric diseases.

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Mapping behavioral landscapes in Down syndrome animal models

Lagrán

2020

Progress in Brain Research

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Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism

Cited by 46 publications

References 46 publications

Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice

Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice

SRF depletion in early life contributes to social interaction deficits in the adulthood

Mapping behavioral landscapes in Down syndrome animal models

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