Sex-Related Differences in Locomotion and Climbing of C57Bl/6NTac Mice in a Novel Environment

Abstract

Laboratory mice in standard laboratory cages, besides horizontal and vertical locomotor activity, spontaneously display cage-bar related activities such as cage-grid climbing. Although, grid-climbing activity is one of the major components of spontaneous home-cage behavior of mice, its exact role is not fully understood. This study aimed to describe the sex-differences in coping with novelty and in spontaneous behavior of laboratory mice concerning the cage-climbing activity in an observer-independent open field test. Adult mice of both sexes (C57Bl/6NTac) underwent behavioral testing in LABORAS system. Female mice travelled significantly longer distance (by 30 %, p<0.05) and showed higher grid-climbing activity (by 50 %, p<0.05) than males. Based on our results, the grid-climbing is a sex-dependent activity of mice, however, its exact role remains to be elucidated.

Diurnal effects of polypharmacy with high drug burden index on physical activities over 23 h differ with age and sex

“…The sample size was calculated to have enough power to detect a difference in locomotor activity in the open field observed between young and old male mice in our previous study 25 . The numbers in each group were also consistent with previous research testing both sexes in the LABORAS 28 . Behavioral recording experiments were performed before and after four weeks of drug interventions.…”

“…Treated mice exhibited declines in mean gait speed, and the durations of climbing and grooming, compared to control. Climbing is associated with escape attempts, coping mechanisms to captivity-induced stress, curiosity, or a repetitive motor routine to explore 28 . This shows that HDBI polypharmacy inhibited the previously reported increased exploration in control mice during the first hour in LABORAS cages 29 .…”

Reelin deficiency exacerbates cocaine‐induced hyperlocomotion by enhancing neuronal activity in the dorsomedial striatum

“…Previous literature showed sex differences in basal 35,36 and cocaineinduced locomotor activity in rodents, with females showing increased activity. 36,37 Our data confirmed these results with female mice showing an overall increased locomotor activity at basal conditions and in response to cocaine.…”

Locus coeruleus activation during environmental novelty gates cocaine-induced long-term hyperactivity of dopamine neurons

“…This was done in order to complement a recent study from our laboratory performed on males, which explored the molecular mechanism by which cocaine experienced in a new environment changed the in vivo activity of dopaminergic neurons (Creed et al, 2016). However, previous studies reported sex-related differences in behavioral reactivity to a novel environment (Borbelyova et al, 2019) and also greater tonic activity of VTA dopamine neurons in females than in males (Calipari et al, 2017). To determine if our findings can be generalized to both sexes or if there is a sex-dependent response to novelty, these experiments would need to be repeated in both sexes.…”