Hybrid Offspring of C57BL/6J Mice Exhibit Improved Properties for Neurobehavioral Research

Abstract

C57BL/6 is the most commonly used mouse strain in neurobehavioral research, serving as a background for multiple transgenic lines. However, C57BL/6 exhibit behavioral and sensorimotor disadvantages that worsen with age. We bred FVB/NJ females and C57BL/6J males to generate first-generation hybrid offspring (FVB/NJ x C57BL/6J)F1. The hybrid mice exhibit reduced anxiety-like behavior, improved learning, and enhanced long-term spatial memory. In contrast to both progenitors, hybrids maintain sensorimotor performance upon aging and exhibit improved long-term memory. The hybrids are larger than C57BL/6J, exhibiting enhanced running behavior on a linear track during freely-moving electrophysiological recordings. Hybrids exhibit typical rate and phase coding of space by CA1 pyramidal cells. Hybrids generated by crossing FVB/NJ females with transgenic males of a C57BL/6 background support optogenetic neuronal control in neocortex and hippocampus. The hybrid mice provide an improved model for neurobehavioral studies combining complex behavior, electrophysiology, and genetic tools readily available in C57BL/6 mice.

Restoring functional D2- to D1-neuron correspondence enables goal-directed action control in long-lived striatal circuits

“…Unexpectedly, in contrast to our first experiment, both aged transgenic groups developed concatenated action sequences throughout instrumental training (Extended Data Fig. 9c-f), an effect that could be due to the improved behavioural performance in F1 hybrid strains (Sloin et al, 2022), supporting the notion that compromised action structure in ageing is a labile state that can be relatively easy to rescue through indirect interventions (Matamales et al, 2017) (e.g. Fig.…”

The Influence of Unlimited Sucrose Intake on Body Weight and Behavior—Findings from a Mouse Model

“…The experiments were performed on adult male C57BL/6J mice (the most common inbred mouse strain employed in biomedical research, summarized in [ 30 ]) which were housed in 10 cages (4 animals per cage) to avoid crowding. The animals were from different litters and were placed in their designated cages during puberty, before social dominant behaviors have developed [ 31 ], balancing equal proportions of mice from different litters.…”

Short-term auditory priming in freely-moving mice

“…Several types of memory, including implicit short-term memory, have not been studied with invasive techniques. Freely-moving mice have emerged as a robust model for studying various neuronal mechanisms using high density silicon probes recordings combined with optogenetics [66][67][68] . Here, we created a conscious short-term response priming paradigm for mice.…”