An automated homecage system for multiwhisker detection and discrimination learning in mice.

Autor: Sarah M Bernhard, Jiseok Lee, Mo Zhu, Alex Hsu, Andrew Erskine, Samuel A Hires, Alison L Barth
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 12, p e0232916 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232916
Popis: Automated, homecage behavioral training for rodents has many advantages: it is low stress, requires little interaction with the experimenter, and can be easily manipulated to adapt to different experimental conditions. We have developed an inexpensive, Arduino-based, homecage training apparatus for sensory association training in freely-moving mice using multiwhisker air current stimulation coupled to a water reward. Animals learn this task readily, within 1-2 days of training, and performance progressively improves with training. We examined the parameters that regulate task acquisition using different stimulus intensities, directions, and reward valence. Learning was assessed by comparing anticipatory licking for the stimulus compared to the no-stimulus (blank) trials. At high stimulus intensities (>9 psi), animals showed markedly less participation in the task. Conversely, very weak air current intensities (1-2 psi) were not sufficient to generate rapid learning behavior. At intermediate stimulus intensities (5-6 psi), a majority of mice learned that the multiwhisker stimulus predicted the water reward after 24-48 hrs of training. Both exposure to isoflurane and lack of whiskers decreased animals' ability to learn the task. Following training at an intermediate stimulus intensity, mice were able to transfer learning behavior when exposed to a lower stimulus intensity, an indicator of perceptual learning. Mice learned to discriminate between two directions of stimulation rapidly and accurately, even when the angular distance between the stimuli was
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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