Behavioral profiles of three C57BL/6 substrains

Naoki Matsuo, Keizo Takao, Kazuo Nakanishi, Nobuyuki Yamasaki, Koichi Tanda, Tsuyoshi Miyakawa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

161 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

C57BL/6 inbred strains of mice are widely used in knockout and transgenic research. To evaluate the loss-of-function and gain-of-function effects of the gene of interest, animal behaviors are often examined. However, an issue of C57BL/6 substrains that is not always appreciated is that behaviors are known to be strongly influenced by genetic background. To investigate the behavioral characteristics of C57BL/6 substrains, we subjected C57BL/6J, C57BL/6N, and C57BL/6C mice to a behavior test battery. We performed both a regular-scale analysis, in which experimental conditions were tightly-controlled, and large-scale analysis from large number of behavioral data that we have collected so far through the comprehensive behavioral test battery applied to 700-2,200 mice in total. Significant differences among the substrains were found in the results of various behavioral tests, including the open field, rotarod, elevated plus maze, prepulse inhibition, Porsolt forced swim, and spatial working memory version of the 8-arm radial maze. Our results show a divergence of behavioral performance in C57BL/6 substrains, which suggest that small genetic differences may have a great influence on behavioral phenotypes. Thus, the genetic background of different substrains should be carefully chosen, equated, and considered in the interpretation of mutant behavioral phenotypes.

Original languageEnglish
JournalFrontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Volume4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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