seeanalysisofopen-fieldbehaviordiscriminatesc57bl6j.docVIP

SEE analysis of open-field behavior discriminates C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mouse inbred strains across laboratories and protocol conditions Neri Kafkafi 1, 3, Dina Lipkind 2, Yoav Benjamini 4, Cheryl L Mayo 3 , Gregory I Elmer 3 Ilan Golani 2 1. Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse/IRP, Baltimore, Maryland 2. Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Israel. 3. Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland. 4. Department of Statistics, Tel Aviv University, Israel.  Abstract Conventional tests of behavioral phenotyping frequently have difficulties differentiating certain genotypes and replicating these differences across laboratories and protocol conditions. In this study we explore the hypothesis that ethologically-relevant behavior patterns would more readily characterize heritable and replicable phenotypes. We used SEE (Software for the Exploration of Exploration) to phenotype the open-field behavior of the C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mouse inbred strains across three laboratories. The two genotypes differed in 15 different measures of behavior, none of which had a significant genotype ( laboratory interaction. Within the same laboratory, most of these differences were replicated in additional experiments despite changing the test photoperiod cycle and injecting saline. Our results suggest that the problem of replicability is likely to be solved by better-designed tests rather than stricter standardization. Introduction Neurobehavioral genetics depends critically on the accuracy and reliability of behavioral measurements. The characterization of specific behaviors, sometime referred to as behavioral phenotyping, is essential for associating them with particular gene loci. The need for behavioral phenotyping has resulted in the design of behavioral and physiological test batteries for mice (Crawley et al, 1997, 2000; Rogers et al, 1999). Considerable effort has been made