Strains and stressors: an analysis of touchscreen learning in genetically diverse mouse strains.

ABSTRACT: Touchscreen-based systems are growing in popularity as a tractable, translational approach for studying learning and cognition in rodents. However, while mouse strains are well known to differ in learning across various settings, performance variation between strains in touchscreen learning has not been well described. The selection of appropriate genetic strains and backgrounds is critical to the design of touchscreen-based studies and provides a basis for elucidating genetic factors moderating behavior. Here we provide a quantitative foundation for visual discrimination and reversal learning using touchscreen assays across a total of 35 genotypes. We found significant differences in operant performance and learning, including faster reversal learning in DBA/2J compared to C57BL/6J mice.

SUBMITTER: Graybeal C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3929556 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature