Comparison of APP / PS1 double transgenic and wild⁃type mice to review the advantages, disadvantages, and cautions of behavioral tests related to learning and memory
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1. College of Public Health, Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an 710021, China. 2. Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Disease Prevention and Treatment/ Sports Health Research Center, Xi’an Medical College, Xi’an 710021. 3. Institute of Neuroscience, Xiamen University/ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Aging Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005

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    Abstract:

    Objective To compare the advantages and disadvantages of APP / PS1 transgenic AD model mice and wild?type(WT) mice in a variety of behavioral experiments, and summarize the precautions, assessment criteria, and applications of these experiments to provide a basis for the study of animal cognition?related behavior. Methods Y maze, type Ⅰ and Ⅱ T mazes, new?object recognition test, open?field test, and rotarod tests were adopted to detect the motor ability, exploratory behavior, learning and memory ability, new?object recognition ability, activeness, fear of open field, and the coordination of central nervous system in 3? and 6?month?old APP / PS1 transgenic and WT mice. Results Six?month?old APP / PS1 transgenic mice showed significantly lower working memory than WT mice of the same age. This is indicated by a significant increase in the spontaneous return in the Y maze, and a significant decrease in spontaneous alternations and return in 6?month?old AD mice compared tothe 3?month?old a AD mice,while no such discrimination is found in WT mice. The scores and memory time of 6?month?old AD mice in the type Ⅰ T maze(reward type) were significantly decreased compared with WT mice, and the learning time in the type Ⅱ T maze(punishment type) was significantly increased, indicating a weaker learning ability, slower memory retrieval, and lower accuracy in AD mice compared with WT mice. In the open?field test, the total distance and speed were significantly decreased in 6?month?old AD mice compared with WT mice of the same age. The number of entries in the central area and the ratio of central to peripheral area and the number of rearings were significantly decreased in AD mice, indicating that exploratory behavior was significantly decreased in AD compared with WT mice of the same age, and the degree of fear in the open field was higher. However, there was no difference between APP / PS1 and WT mice in the latency to fall in the rotarod test, indicating no difference in central coordination abilities. Conclusions The Y maze test can be operated easily and has a short time course, and is suitable for detecting working memory, but the test circle for a single animal is longer. The T maze assesses the animal’s exploratory nature, which can accurately determine the learning and memory ability, and reflects the ability of memory retrieval; however, the test circle is long. The new?object recognition test was designed based on the rodents’ curiosity of new objects, and could accurately reflect their ability to recognize objects. However, operation of the experimental equipment is complicated, and the test is easily affected by an animal’s stress behavior. The open?field test is mainly used to measure motor and exploration abilities, activity, and fear of open field, based on the animal’s fear of open field and curiosity about a new environment; however, the experimental result are easily affected by stress state. The rotarod test directly reflects the body’s coordination and anti?fatigue ability and indirectly reflects the animal’s diurnal rhythm, and can be used as an auxiliary index for learning and memory ability.

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  • Received:October 09,2022
  • Online: November 09,2023
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