title: Assessments of cognitive abilities in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease with a touch screen test.
abstract: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience both motor output deficits and cognitive disabilities. Various PD rodent models have been developed to investigate the genetic and brain circuit-related causes of PD and have contributed to the basic and clinical research and to therapeutic strategies for this disease. Most studies using PD rodent models have focused on the motor output deficits, rather than cognitive disabilities due to the lack of appropriate testing tools that do not require significant motor abilities. In this study, we assessed the cognitive disabilities of PD model mice using a touch screen test that required only little motor ability. We found that the PD model mice, which had motor deficits caused by unilateral striatal dopaminergic degeneration, successfully underwent operant conditioning with a touch screen test. Additionally, we found that the PD model mice demonstrated impaired location discrimination, but intact attention and reversal learning in the cognitive tests. Therefore, the touch screen test is useful for assessing hidden cognitive disabilities in disease model animals with decreased motor function.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biological Sciences & Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chuljung
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biological Sciences & Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: cslim@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Chae-Seok
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biological Sciences & Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kaang@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Bong-Kiun
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Kaang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003201:Computers; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009043:Motor Activity; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016627:Oxidopamine; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012193:Reversal Learning; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test; D014796:Visual Perception
chemical_list: D016627:Oxidopamine
keywords: Cognition test; Location discrimination; Parkinson’s disease; Striatum; Touch screen test