Assessing nest building in mice
Assessing nest building in mice
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DOI：
10.1038/nprot.2006.170
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发表时间：
2006-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14.8
通讯作者：
Deacon, Robert M. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Deacon, Robert M. J.
对于小型啮齿动物来说，巢穴在热量保存以及繁殖和庇护方面都很重要。在小鼠的家庭笼中很容易测量筑巢，特别是随着压制棉材料的出现。老鼠首先撕碎紧密堆积的材料，然后将其排列成巢。已发表的研究经常使用干草、干草或组织等材料，有时预先切碎，并用相当基本的评级量表对所得巢的质量进行评分; e.例如，在一个实施例中，0、无窝; 1、平窝; 2、窝盖鼠。这里描述的协议使用压制棉广场和一个明确的5点巢评级量表。任何未切碎的材料后，一轮筑巢也可以称重，提供了一个半独立的筑巢能力的客观分析。筑巢已被证明是敏感的大脑病变，药物和基因突变。这是一种简单、便宜和容易完成的测试，沿着其他物种典型行为的测试，是用于鉴定先前未知的行为表型的灵敏测定。测试需要在一夜之间完成，但设置时间不应超过5分钟，加上1分钟评估一个巢并称量未撕裂的残留物。
For small rodents, nests are important in heat conservation as well as reproduction and shelter. Nesting is easily measured in the home cages of mice, particularly with the advent of pressed cotton materials. The mice first shred the tightly packed material, then arrange it into a nest. Published studies have often used materials such as hay, twine or tissues, sometimes preshredded, and have assigned scores of the quality of the resulting nest with rather rudimentary rating scales; e. g., 0, no nest; 1, flat nest; 2, nest covering the mouse. The protocol described here uses pressed cotton squares and a definitive 5-point nest-rating scale. Any unshredded material left after a bout of nesting can also be weighed, providing a semi-independent objective assay of nesting ability. Nesting has been shown to be sensitive to brain lesions, pharmacological agents and genetic mutations. This is a simple, cheap and easily done test that, along with other tests of species-typical behavior, is a sensitive assay for identifying previously unknown behavioral phenotypes. The test needs to be done overnight, but it should take no more than 5 minutes to set up plus 1 minute to assess one nest and weigh the untorn residue.