TY - JOUR
T1 - Automated measurement of mouse freezing behavior and its use for quantitative trait locus analysis of contextual fear conditioning in (BALB/cJ x C57BL/6J)F2 mice
AU - Valentinuzzi, Veronica S.
AU - Kolker, Daniel E.
AU - Vitaterna, Martha Hotz
AU - Shimomura, Kazuhiro
AU - Whiteley, Andrew
AU - Low-Zeddies, Sharon
AU - Turek, Fred W.
AU - Ferrari, Elenice A M
AU - Paylor, Richard
AU - Takahashi, Joseph S.
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - The most commonly measured mouse behavior in fear conditioning tests is freezing. A technical limitation, particularly for genetic studies, is the method of direct observation used for quantifying this response, with the potential for bias or inconsistencies. We report the use of a computerized method based on latency between photobeam interruption measures as a reliable scoring criterion in mice. The different computer measures obtained during contextual fear conditioning tests showed high correlations with hand-scored freezing; r values ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. Previously reported strain differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J in context-dependent fear conditioning were also detected by the computer-based system. In addition, the use of computer-scored freezing of 199 (BALB/cJ x C57BL/6J)F2 mice enabled us to detect a suggestive gender-dependent chromosomal locus for contextual fear conditioning on distal chromosome 8 by QTL analysis. Automation of freeze scoring would significantly increase efficiency and reliability of this learning and memory test.
AB - The most commonly measured mouse behavior in fear conditioning tests is freezing. A technical limitation, particularly for genetic studies, is the method of direct observation used for quantifying this response, with the potential for bias or inconsistencies. We report the use of a computerized method based on latency between photobeam interruption measures as a reliable scoring criterion in mice. The different computer measures obtained during contextual fear conditioning tests showed high correlations with hand-scored freezing; r values ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. Previously reported strain differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J in context-dependent fear conditioning were also detected by the computer-based system. In addition, the use of computer-scored freezing of 199 (BALB/cJ x C57BL/6J)F2 mice enabled us to detect a suggestive gender-dependent chromosomal locus for contextual fear conditioning on distal chromosome 8 by QTL analysis. Automation of freeze scoring would significantly increase efficiency and reliability of this learning and memory test.
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M3 - Article
C2 - 10454363
AN - SCOPUS:0032448549
SN - 1072-0502
VL - 5
SP - 391
EP - 403
JO - Learning and Memory
JF - Learning and Memory
IS - 4-5
ER -