Behavioral Assessment of the Senescence-accelerated Mouse (SAM P8 and R1)

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 15 - 26
• Main Authors: Markowska, Alicja L, Spangler, Edward L, Ingram, Donald K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 01.04.1998; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: Aging, Premature - physiopathology; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Models, Animal; Emotionality; Emotions - physiology; Exploratory activity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Status Indicators; Hematocrit - statistics & numerical data; Male; Maze Learning; Memory - physiology; Methods; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reference memory; Senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM); Sensorimotor skills; Species Specificity; Swimming; Visual Perception - physiology; Water maze; Working memory; Reference memory; Emotionality; Water maze; Sensorimotor skills; Senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM); Exploratory activity; Working memory; Affect affectivity; Animal model; Senescence; Methodology; Memory; Rodentia; Emotion emotionality; Psychomotricity; Vertebrata; Sensorimotor coordination; Mammalia; Mouse; Animal; Developmental stage
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00011-0

MARKOWSKA, A. L., E. L. SPANGLER AND D. K. INGRAM. Behavioral assessment of the senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM P8 and R1). Physiol Behav 64(1) 15–26, 1998. Senescence-accelerated mice (SAM P8 and R1) were behaviorally assessed in a cross-sectional study at 4 and 15 months of age. Behavioral measures included memory (place discrimination and repeated acquisition in a water maze), sensorimotor performance (turning in an alley, traversing bridges, wire rod hanging, and falls from a wire screen), psychomotor performance (open-field exploration), and emotionality (entries in a plus maze, grooming, and defecation in a plus maze and in an open field). In the water maze, aged P8 mice were impaired in place discrimination and in repeated acquisition tasks, demonstrating evidence of an age-related decline in spatial memory processing abilities. The demonstration of this impairment, however, was complicated by noncognitive factors, such as the tendency of many older P8 mice to float. Sensorimotor skill impairment was accelerated with age in P8 mice, but not in R1 mice, and this impairment was present despite the lack of age-related changes in body weight in P8 mice. Although P8 and R1 mice were not different in general activity at old age, P8 mice were substantially more hyperactive in an open field and in the plus maze than R1 mice when compared at young age. Independent of age, P8 mice demonstrated a reduction of anxiety-like behavior in the plus maze. Taken as a whole, the data suggest that although age-related behavioral alterations occur in the P8 mice, some of these changes are evident at 4 months of age. Thus, the behavioral abnormalities that exist not only represent an accelerated aging phenomenon but may also be considered a developmental pathology.