Adaptation to a blood pressure telemetry system revealed by measures of activity, agility and operant learning in mice.
BACKGROUND
Implantable telemetry enables continuous monitoring of physiological functions in freely moving animals and can greatly complement pharmacological research. Despite its miniaturization, a sensor/transmitter constitutes 5% or more of a mouse's bodyweight. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether factors related to the presence of a probe/transmitter influence the ambulatory activity, strength, agility, or operant, motivated behaviors of this small rodent.


METHODS
Adult male mice (C57BL/6N, 22-25g, 9-10weeks; implanted n=26, intact n=45) were evaluated during week-long tests, conducted three and eight weeks after surgical implantation of the PA-C10 blood pressure probe. An open field test, grip force measurement, Rotarod test were performed, followed by 7-day continuous monitoring of spontaneous wheel running activity and positively reinforced operant conditioning in an automated data collection system.


RESULTS
An implanted blood pressure transmitter did not affect behavior of mice in the open field test, on the Rotarod or their grip force, compared to unoperated controls. Voluntary wheel running distance was reduced three, but not eight weeks after implantation. Three weeks after the surgery, performance in the positively reinforced operant conditioning in operated mice was slightly decreased compared to intact animals, while retention and acquisition of a 2nd, reversal-learning task eight weeks after the surgery were unaffected.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that an implantable transmitter may have detectable effects in the first few weeks following implantation on some elements of mouse behavior. With sufficient recovery, mice perform comparably to unoperated controls in tests of strength, endurance, agility and learned operant behavior.
Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoe Shosse, 76A, Moscow, 123007, Russia; Moscow State University, Biology Faculty, Leninskie Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119234, Russia.
Anfisa
A
Popova
Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Parinatology, Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, Oparina Street, 4, Moscow, 117997, Russia; Laboratory of Integrated Neurovascular and Mitochondrial Biology (BNMI), UMR CNRS 6214, INSERM 1083, Angers, France.
Darya
D
Tsvirkun
National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", pl. Akademika Kurchatova, 1, Moscow, 123098, Russia.
Oleg
O
Dolgov
National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", pl. Akademika Kurchatova, 1, Moscow, 123098, Russia.
Konstantin
K
Anokhin
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Jeffrey
J
Alberts
Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoe Shosse, 76A, Moscow, 123007, Russia.
Evgeniia
E
Lagereva
Laboratory of Integrated Neurovascular and Mitochondrial Biology (BNMI), UMR CNRS 6214, INSERM 1083, Angers, France; CaDyWEC International Laboratory, Angers University, 49045 Angers CEDEX 01, France.
Marc-Antoine
MA
Custaud
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, 2 Place Maurice Quentin, 75 039 Paris CEDEX 01, France.
Guillemette
G
Gauquelin-Koch
Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoe Shosse, 76A, Moscow, 123007, Russia.
Olga
O
Vinogradova
Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoe Shosse, 76A, Moscow, 123007, Russia; Moscow State University, Biology Faculty, Leninskie Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119234, Russia. Electronic address: aandrievsky@gmail.com.
Alexander
A
Andreev-Andrievskiy
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
Ambulatory activity; Implantable telemetry; Methods; Mouse; Operant conditioning