I'm starting a project to look at detailed neurochemical differences in commonly research inbred mouse strains. I'm trying to use strains that have well-documented differences in behaviors related to motor functioning, reward-related behaviors, and/or anxiety.
Here are the strains I'm interested in so far: 129S1/SvImJ (129S1), BALB/cJ (BALB), C57BL/6J (C57), DBA2/J (DBA2), and FVB/NJ (FVB).
And here's some of the support I've found for using these strains. I realize this citation list is not exhaustive at this point.
- 129S1 mice have reduced locomotor activity and rearing behaviors, while C57 and FVB mice are hyperactive (O’Leary et al., 2013).
- BALB and FVB mice have weak behavioral responses to drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, whereas DBA2 mice are more sensitive to the reward-potentiating effects of drugs and C57 mice are middle-of-the-road responders (Deroche et al., 1997; Eisener-Dorman et al., 2011; Fish et al., 2010; Orsini et al., 2005; Thomsen & Caine, 2012; Wiltshire et al., 2015).
- Regarding anxiety, BALB mice are the most anxious in the light/dark box while C57, DBA2, and FVB are less anxious (Griebel et al., 2000; O’Leary et al., 2013).
Any advice on adding or removing strains?
Hi, Deranda--
Those strains are a good start. Sounds like a great project!
Although I would disagree with classifying a strain as "anxious" or "motor impaired" relative to others based on a single measure/apparatus.
With regard to motor functioning, we have a series of parametric papers using multiple apparatus after various alcohol doses that identified the best dose, apparatus conditions (e.g., rotation speed on a rotarod), and time-course of sensitivity in multiple inbred strains (8-22). Most of these have been deposited into Mouse Phenome Database (you're probably aware of this resource) https://phenome.jax.org. Look for John Crabbe, Douglas Wahlsten, and me for the papers I mention.
The core of this group of papers are meta-analyses showing that very few of the "ataxia" measures were genetically related to one another (Crabbe et al., 2005 NSci Biobehavioral Reviews doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.08.002; Wahlsten et al., 2006 PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.0605342103 2006). The latter paper also highlights the strain inter-laboratory variance in elevated plus maze behavior (anxiety-like behavior).
My own research into alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety measures also highlights a lack of phenotypic correlation among anxiety tests using different measures in a genetically heterogeneous stock made from 8 standard inbred strains (Metten et al., 2018 Alcohol Article An alcohol withdrawal test battery measuring multiple behavi...
). If one were to examine using MPD different anxiety tests, I suspect that it would show a similar lack of genetic correlation.A series of papers from Chris Cunningham's lab shows inbred strain responses to ethanol conditioned place preference and ethanol conditioned taste aversion and their genetic correlational relationships within and with other behaviors (Cunningham 2014 Behav Neurosci DOI: 10.1037/a0036459; Broadbent et al., 2002 Behav Neurosci DOI: 10.1037//0735-7044.116.1.138). These papers also show that DBA/2J (an alcohol avoider) shows greater ethanol conditioned place preference (CPP) and ethanol conditioned taste aversion (CTA) at the same dose of ethanol (2 g/kg). In contrast, C57BL/6J (strong alcohol preferrer) shows resistance to CTA after 2 g/kg, and weak CPP. BALB/cJ has lower CPP, an intermediate CTA and is a medium-strong alcohol preferrer).
I'd be happy to discuss this all further if you need. In terms of recommendations of strains to add, I might suggest C3H/HeJ from a different branch of Petkov et al.'s Group 1 tree, and perhaps NON/LtJ or NZB/B1NJ from Group 3 (2004 Genome Res 14:1806).
Best of luck!
Pamela
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