Marble Burying Autism

Materials mice at least 6 weeks of age 70 ethanol for cleaning clean standard polycarbonate mouse cage 29 75 61 5 74 inches high 76 autism behavioral 156 188 cm high tests in mice 11 22 2.

Marble burying autism.

While widely used there is significant controversy over the interpretation of its results. Marble burying is an animal model used in scientific research to depict anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder ocd behavior. The marble burying test protocol described below is modified from deacon 2006 and angoa perez kane briggs francescutti kuhn 2013. Disease head injury genetic modifications and treatment of mice with drugs can have profound effects on behavior.

It has been suggested as a screening test for anxiolytic response but more recently has been proposed as modeling repetitive behaviors characteristic of mental disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder ocd or autism spectrum disorder asd thomas et al. The marble burying test occurred 8 days following the grooming test to ensure there were no potential residual effects from the initial drug treatment birdsall et al 1978. For the repetitive domain the t maze spontaneous alternation test and marble burying test are described. After the test period buried marbles were counted manually.

Marble burying the marble burying test is a useful model of neophobia 1 anxiety 1 7 and obsessive compulsive behavior 8 11. Rodents naturally exhibit a large number of behaviors that can be linked to similar behaviors in human. It has also been proposed that the test may have predictive validity for the screening of novel antidepressants 12 15 anxiolytics 15 16 and antipsychotics 17 19. Utilizing well characterized and validated approaches such as marble burying and nestlet shredding compulsive like behaviors can be documented accurately in mice as models of human obsessive compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorder.

Mice were placed individually in an open arena 51 5 cm by 51 5 cm by 31 cm containing fresh bedding i e sawdust 5 cm deep with 20 clean marbles prearranged in a 5 by 4 grid. Gene editing eases the frantic burying of marbles bottom right in a mouse model of fragile x syndrome bottom left. A primary advantage of the marble burying and nestlet shredding tests is the fact that each depends on natural and spontaneous behaviors of mice that can be quantified after test completion allowing a single investigator to set up an experiment and then remain outside of the testing room until sessions end. Subjects received a different treatment before marble burying from that administered during the spontaneous self grooming experiment with the exception of three b6 mice.

Mice were allowed to bury the marbles for 20 min.