Background

The social approach and social novelty tests utilizing the three-chamber apparatus are widely accepted to measure social behavior of rodents. The LABORAS™ system offers a possibility to assess sociability of mice in a reliable and objective manner.

New method

We assessed the capability of the LABORAS™ sociability cage and algorithm (2.6.6) to detect social behaviors in mice. Furthermore, we investigated whether the system is able to detect various levels of sociability due to genetic background or after pharmacological treatments.

Results

By comparing manual scoring with various detection zone settings of the automated registration, the most fitting algorithm with a detection zone radius of 90 mm was identified. When different strains were investigated, C57Bl/6 J and NMRI mice proved to be social, while CD1 mice were found asocial. The system was able to detect the sociability increasing effect of R-baclofen (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) and oxytocin (12 ng i.c.v.) in asocial CD1 mice. The negative control PCP impaired social behavior of C57Bl/6 J mice (1 mg/kg i.p.) and increased social avoidance in CD1 mice (0.3 mg/kg i.p.).

Comparison with existing method(s)

This setup, in contrast to video frame analysis softwares, determines signal changes caused by movements of rodents allowing accurate detection and analysis of trajectories. Parallel automated measurements also allow replacing time and labor intensive, highly subjective human observational work.

Conclusions

The set-up provides a fast and reliable method to examine social behavior of mice in the three-chamber apparatus. The system is capable of detecting pro or antisocial activity of pharmacological agents.

中文翻译：

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使用LABORAS™系统的新型三室仪器和算法测量小鼠的社交能力。

背景

利用三室仪器进行的社交方法和社交新颖性测试被广泛用于衡量啮齿动物的社交行为。LABORAS™系统为以可靠和客观的方式评估小鼠的社交能力提供了可能性。

新方法

我们评估了LABORAS™社交笼和算法（2.6.6）检测小鼠社交行为的能力。此外，我们调查了该系统是否能够检测到由于遗传背景或经过药理处理而引起的各种社会交往程度。

结果

通过将手动评分与自动套准的各种检测区域设置进行比较，可以确定检测区域半径为90 mm的最合适算法。当调查不同的品系时，C57Bl / 6 J和NMRI小鼠被证明具有社会性，而CD1小鼠被发现具有社会性。该系统能够检测R-baclofen（0.5 mg / kg ip）和催产素（12 ng icv）在社交CD1小鼠中的社交能力提高作用。阴性对照PCP损害了C57Bl / 6 J小鼠的社交行为（1 mg / kg ip），并增加了CD1小鼠的社交回避（0.3 mg / kg ip）。

与现有方法的比较

与视频帧分析软件相比，此设置可以确定由啮齿动物的运动引起的信号变化，从而可以准确地检测和分析轨迹。并行自动测量还可以代替时间和劳动密集型，高度主观的人类观察工作。

结论

该设置提供了一种快速可靠的方法来检查三室仪器中小鼠的社交行为。该系统能够检测药理药物的促社会活性或反社会活性。