title: Optimization of touchscreen-based behavioral paradigms in mice: implications for building a battery of tasks taxing learning and memory functions.
abstract: Although many clinical pathological states are now detectable using imaging and biochemical analyses, neuropsychological tests are often considered as valuable complementary approaches to confirm diagnosis, especially for disorders like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. The touchscreen-based automated test battery, which was introduced two decades ago in humans to assess cognitive functions, has recently been successfully back-translated in monkeys and rodents. We focused on optimizing the protocol of three distinct behavioral paradigms in mice: two variants of the Paired Associates Learning (PAL) and the Visuo-Motor Conditional Learning (VMCL) tasks. Acquisition of these tasks was assessed in naive versus pre-trained mice. In naive mice, we managed to define testing conditions allowing significant improvements of learning performances over time in the three aforementioned tasks. In pre-trained mice, we observed differential acquisition rates after specific task combinations. Particularly, we identified that animals previously trained in the VMCL paradigm subsequently poorly learned the sPAL rule. Together with previous findings, these data confirm the feasibility of using such behavioral assays to evaluate the power of different models of cognitive dysfunction in mice. They also highlight the risk of interactions between tasks when rodents are run through a battery of different cognitive touchscreen paradigms.
authors: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Delotterie
authors: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France.
authors: Chantal
authors: C
authors: Mathis
authors: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France.
authors: Jean-Christophe
authors: JC
authors: Cassel
authors: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany.
authors: Cornelia
authors: C
authors: Dorner-Ciossek
authors: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany.
authors: Anelise
authors: A
authors: Marti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D007858:Learning; D051379:Mice; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning