title: Assessment of behavioral flexibility after middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice.
abstract: Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) is the most common animal model of cerebral ischemia and induces various functional impairments. Long-lasting deficits resulting from MCAO however, remain insufficiently characterized, especially regarding cognition. Yet, behavioral flexibility, a prominent cognitive process is found impaired after stroke in humans. We thus used an operant-based task to assess behavioral flexibility in mice after MCAO. Three weeks after 30 min MCAO surgery, mice were subjected to a battery of sensorimotor tests (rotarod, vertical pole test, spontaneous locomotion and grip-strength test). Behavioral flexibility was then assessed in an operant task, in which mice, rewarded according to a FR5 schedule of reinforcement, had to alternate their operant responses between two levers from trial to trial. Regarding sensory and motor functioning, only the pole test yielded a significant difference between MCAO and sham mice. In the operant flexibility task, results showed a behavioral flexibility deficit in MCAO mice; neither the operant response acquisition nor the appeal for food rewards was altered. In conclusion, our operant-based task revealed a long-lasting behavioral flexibility deficit after MCAO in mice.
authors.affiliation: Département de Psychologie, Cognition et Comportement, Université de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: j.linden@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.forename: Ludivine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fassotte
authors.forename: Ezio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tirelli
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Plumier
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012718:Set, Psychology
keywords: Behavioral flexibility; Cerebral ischemia; Functional assessment; MCAO; Mouse; Operant conditioning