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Analyzing grooming microstructure in neurobehavioral experiments

Nature Protocols volume 2, pages 2538–2544 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Grooming is a commonplace, robust behavior in rodent species. It has been shown to be highly sensitive to a number of experimental factors, making it an ideal target for manipulation. The complex patterning of grooming in rodents, which usually proceeds in a cephalo-caudal direction and involves several distinct stages, can be dissected into its constituent parts and microstructures. Several grooming patterning analysis methods are described in the protocol that allow for an assessment of this behavior based on measurements of grooming activity and its sequencing. Additionally, grooming can be evaluated in reference to the regional distribution and syntax in which it occurs. Owing to the ever-increasing number of rodent models that have strong grooming phenotypes, this high-throughput in-depth analysis is becoming crucial for biomedical research.

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Figure 1: Syntactic grooming chain pattern in mice (adapted from ref.
Figure 2
Figure 3: Example of drug-evoked alterations in grooming sequencing in rats detected by the syntactic chain analysis approach.
Figure 4: Potential applications of grooming activity and patterning analyses to behavioral research.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Medical Research Foundation (EVO) of Tampere University Hospital (Finland), the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (USA) and NARSAD YI Award (to A.V.K.). We thank Professor Kent Berridge (University of Michigan, USA) for permission to use grooming syntax diagram and for his valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH/NIH, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Allan V Kalueff, Justin L LaPorte & Dennis L Murphy

  2. Department of Anatomy, Medical School, University of Tampere, Tampere, 33014, Finland

    Allan V Kalueff & Pentti Tuohimaa

  3. Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-0607, Michigan, USA

    J Wayne Aldridge

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Correspondence to Allan V Kalueff.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Video 1

Non-chain rat grooming (MOV 214 kb)

Supplementary Video 2

Syntactic chain grooming in rats (Example 1) (MOV 508 kb)

Supplementary Video 3

Syntactic chain grooming in rats (Example 2) (MOV 574 kb)

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Kalueff, A., Aldridge, J., LaPorte, J. et al. Analyzing grooming microstructure in neurobehavioral experiments. Nat Protoc 2, 2538–2544 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2007.367

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