Aged Tg2576 mice are impaired on social memory and open field habituation tests

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 197; no. 2; pp. 466 - 468
• Main Authors: Deacon, R.M.J., Koros, E., Bornemann, K.D., Rawlins, J.N.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 11.02.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Age Factors; Alzheimer Disease - genetics; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Amyloid beta-Peptides - genetics; Amyloid beta-Peptides - metabolism; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Burrowing; Cognition - physiology; Digging; Disease Models, Animal; Exploratory Behavior - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Habituation; Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology; Male; Memory; Memory - physiology; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Motor Activity - physiology; Olfaction; Open field; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social Behavior; Social memory; Tg2576; Memory; Burrowing; Olfaction; Mice; Open field; Social memory; Digging; Tg2576; Habituation; Rodentia; Open field behavior; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Animal
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.09.042

In a previous publication [Deacon RMJ, Cholerton LL, Talbot K, Nair-Roberts RG, Sanderson DJ, Romberg C, et al. Age-dependent and -independent behavioral deficits in Tg2576 mice. Behav Brain Res 2008;189:126–38] we found that very few cognitive tests were suitable for demonstrating deficits in Tg2576 mice, an amyloid over-expression model of Alzheimer's disease, even at 23 months of age. However, in a retrospective analysis of a separate project on these mice, tests of social memory and open field habituation revealed large cognitive impairments. Controls showed good open field habituation, but Tg2576 mice were hyperactive and failed to habituate. In the test of social memory for a juvenile mouse, controls showed considerably less social investigation on the second meeting, indicating memory of the juvenile, whereas Tg2576 mice did not show this decrement.As a control for olfactory sensitivity, on which social memory relies, the ability to find a food pellet hidden under wood chip bedding was assessed. Tg2576 mice found the pellet as quickly as controls. As this test requires digging ability, this was independently assessed in tests of burrowing and directly observed digging. In line with previous results and the hippocampal dysfunction characteristic of aged Tg2576 mice, they both burrowed and dug less than controls.