title: Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism.
abstract: Eco-HAB is an open source, RFID-based system for automated measurement and analysis of social preference and in-cohort sociability in mice. The system closely follows murine ethology. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals, overcoming the confounding factors that lead to irreproducible assessment of murine social behavior between laboratories. In Eco-HAB, group-housed animals live in a spacious, four-compartment apparatus with shadowed areas and narrow tunnels, resembling natural burrows. Eco-HAB allows for assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Custom-made software for automated tracking, data extraction, and analysis enables quick evaluation of social impairments. The developed protocols and standardized behavioral measures demonstrate high replicability. Unlike classic three-chambered sociability tests, Eco-HAB provides measurements of spontaneous, ecologically relevant social behaviors in group-housed animals. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower, and without confounding factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7029-1275
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puścian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Szymon
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1764-1907
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Łęski
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.|Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kasprowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winiarski
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nikolaev
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7210-6950
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Boguszewski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|School of Laboratory Medicine, Kwazulu-Natal University Durban, Durban, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lipp
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewelina
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9319-2176
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Knapska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: autism; automated testing; ecological relevance; mouse; mouse models; neuroscience; social behavior; social impairments