The touchscreen cognitive testing method for rodents: How to get the best out of your rat
The touchscreen cognitive testing method for rodents: How to get the best out of your rat
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DOI：
10.1101/lm.987808
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发表时间：
2008-07-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Saksida, Lisa M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bussey, Timothy J.;Padain, Tina L.;Saksida, Lisa M.
啮齿类动物的触摸屏测试方法是一种计算机自动化行为测试方法，其允许向啮齿类动物呈现计算机图形刺激，并且啮齿类动物通过直接对刺激进行鼻戳来响应计算机屏幕。这种方法的优点是众多的，但是，影响学习的参数尚未进行系统的研究。因此，我们试图在这种方法中优化刺激和任务参数。我们发现，当参数优化时，Lister Hooded大鼠可以使用这种方法快速学习，在5到6个持续时间约为30分钟的会话内将二维刺激的识别率提高到80%。在最后一个实验中，我们测试了雄性和雌性白化病Sprague-Dawley品系的大鼠，这些大鼠通常被认为具有太差的视觉能力而不能用于视觉认知的研究。雌性Sprague-Dawley大鼠的表现与雄性大鼠没有区别。此外，雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠的表现与Lister Hooded大鼠的表现没有区别。最后，实验5研究了Lister Hooded大鼠学习区分摄影刺激的能力。在参数优化的条件下，大鼠非常擅长这种辨别。总之，这些实验用于优化触摸屏方法，并已证明其作为啮齿动物认知测试的高通量方法的有用性。
The touchscreen testing method for rodents is a computer-automated behavioral testing method that allows computer graphic stimuli to be presented to rodents and the rodents to respond to the computer screen via a nose-poke directly to the stimulus. The advantages of this method are numerous; however, a systematic study of the parameters that affect learning has not yet been conducted. We therefore sought to optimize stimuli and task parameters in this method. We found that when parameters were optimized, Lister Hooded rats could learn rapidly using this method, solving a discrimination of two-dimensional stimuli to a level of 80% within five to six sessions lasting similar to 30 min each. In a final experiment we tested both male and female rats of the albino Sprague-Dawley strain, which are often assumed to have visual abilities far too poor to be useful for studies of visual cognition. The performance of female Sprague-Dawley rats was indistinguishable from that of their male counterparts. Furthermore, performance of male Sprague-Dawley rats was indistinguishable from that of their Lister Hooded counterparts. Finally, Experiment 5 examined the ability of Lister Hooded rats to learn a discrimination between photographic stimuli. Under conditions in which parameters were optimized, rats were remarkably adept at this discrimination. Taken together, these experiments served to optimize the touchscreen method and have demonstrated its usefulness as a high-throughput method for the cognitive testing of rodents.