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The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior
Female animals in biomedical research have traditionally been excluded from research studies due to the perceived added complexity caused by the estrus cycle. However, given the importance of sex differences in a variety of neurological disorders, testing female mice is critical to identifying sex-l...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7340104/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32714163 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00113 |
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author | Chari, Trishala Griswold, Sophie Andrews, Nick A. Fagiolini, Michela |
author_facet | Chari, Trishala Griswold, Sophie Andrews, Nick A. Fagiolini, Michela |
author_sort | Chari, Trishala |
collection | PubMed |
description | Female animals in biomedical research have traditionally been excluded from research studies due to the perceived added complexity caused by the estrus cycle. However, given the importance of sex differences in a variety of neurological disorders, testing female mice is critical to identifying sex-linked effects in diseases. To determine the susceptibility of simple behaviors to hormonal fluctuations in the estrus cycle, we studied the effects of sex and the estrus cycle on a variety of behavioral tasks commonly used in mouse phenotyping laboratories. Male and female C57BL/6J mice were tested in a small battery of short duration tests and, immediately on completion of each test, females were classified using cytology of vaginal lavages as sexually-receptive (proestrus and estrus) or non-receptive (NR; metestrus and diestrus). We showed that there was a significant difference in 3-chamber social interaction (SI) between female mice at different stages of their estrus cycle, with sexually-receptive mice showing no preferential interest in a novel female mouse compared with an empty chamber. NR female mice showed the same level of preference for a novel female mouse as male mice did for a novel male mouse. No differences between or within sexes were found for tests of anxiety elevated plus maze (EPM; Hole board), working memory [Novel object recognition (NOR)], and motor learning (repeated tests on rotarod). We conclude that the stage of the estrus cycle may impact SI between same-sex conspecifics, and does not impact performance in the elevated plus-maze, hole board, NOR, and rotarod. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7340104 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-73401042020-07-23 The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior Chari, Trishala Griswold, Sophie Andrews, Nick A. Fagiolini, Michela Front Behav Neurosci Behavioral Neuroscience Female animals in biomedical research have traditionally been excluded from research studies due to the perceived added complexity caused by the estrus cycle. However, given the importance of sex differences in a variety of neurological disorders, testing female mice is critical to identifying sex-linked effects in diseases. To determine the susceptibility of simple behaviors to hormonal fluctuations in the estrus cycle, we studied the effects of sex and the estrus cycle on a variety of behavioral tasks commonly used in mouse phenotyping laboratories. Male and female C57BL/6J mice were tested in a small battery of short duration tests and, immediately on completion of each test, females were classified using cytology of vaginal lavages as sexually-receptive (proestrus and estrus) or non-receptive (NR; metestrus and diestrus). We showed that there was a significant difference in 3-chamber social interaction (SI) between female mice at different stages of their estrus cycle, with sexually-receptive mice showing no preferential interest in a novel female mouse compared with an empty chamber. NR female mice showed the same level of preference for a novel female mouse as male mice did for a novel male mouse. No differences between or within sexes were found for tests of anxiety elevated plus maze (EPM; Hole board), working memory [Novel object recognition (NOR)], and motor learning (repeated tests on rotarod). We conclude that the stage of the estrus cycle may impact SI between same-sex conspecifics, and does not impact performance in the elevated plus-maze, hole board, NOR, and rotarod. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7340104/ /pubmed/32714163 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00113 Text en Copyright © 2020 Chari, Griswold, Andrews and Fagiolini. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Behavioral Neuroscience Chari, Trishala Griswold, Sophie Andrews, Nick A. Fagiolini, Michela The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title | The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title_full | The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title_fullStr | The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title_full_unstemmed | The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title_short | The Stage of the Estrus Cycle Is Critical for Interpretation of Female Mouse Social Interaction Behavior |
title_sort | stage of the estrus cycle is critical for interpretation of female mouse social interaction behavior |
topic | Behavioral Neuroscience |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7340104/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32714163 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00113 |
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