Behavioral Core

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Core B: Behavioral Core: (Huerta Director) This Core will enhance the individual projects in the Program by providing centralized resources for performing behavioral analysis in mice to test the main hypothesis that key syndromes of neuropsychiatric lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) are caused by autoantibodies that bind the NR2A and NR2B subunits of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). Specifically, the research described in Project 1, Project 2 and Project 4 depends crucially on careful examination of the behavioral performance of mice. Mice will be subjected to a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests, designed to measure their neurological reflexes, sensorimotor skills, cognitive abilities, emotional processes, learning and memory; however, we will focus on the effects of anti-NMDAR antibodies on specific cognitive tasks that depend on the integrity of a specific NMDAR-rich brain area. The Behavioral Core will ensure that all the tests will be executed under similar environmental conditions and following the same protocol guidelines. This will permit a direct comparison of results across mouse groups tested for different autoantibodies on different times. Another clear advantage will be availability of automated tracking of animals and software-driven protocols, thus minimizing human error and subjective scoring. Finally, the data will be stored in a centralized fashion, with simple access to all investigators in the Program.