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8 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

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Neuroscience

Assessing Burrowing, Nest Construction, and Hoarding in Mice
Robert Deacon 1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Burrowing, nesting, and hoarding are species-typical activities that mice readily perform in the laboratory. This article describes how they can be easily and cheaply assessed. These protocols are extremely sensitive to mouse strain, brain lesions and diseases. Moreover they constitute “environmental enrichment” for the mice, and embody the “Refinement” aspect of the “3 Rs”18.

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Behavior

Shallow Water (Paddling) Variants of Water Maze Tests in Mice
Robert M.J. Deacon 1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Mice can swim, but many strains appear to find this activity stressful. To overcome this problem mazes have been devised where escape from shallow water is used to motivate behaviour. These have been demonstrated to support learning at least as good as the traditional and widely used Morris water maze.

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Neuroscience

Measuring Motor Coordination in Mice
Robert M.J. Deacon 1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Protocols are presented for two established motor coordination tasks, the accelerating rotarod and horizontal bar, also two tests developed in Oxford recently, the static rods and parallel bars. These tests can detect motor impairments potentially of interest in their own right, as well as being possible variables in tests of other areas of behavior.

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Medicine

Measuring the Strength of Mice
Robert M.J. Deacon 1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Deficits in muscular strength occur in many clinical conditions such as motor neuron disease. The inverted screen and weight lifting tests described here measure strength in mice almost exclusively, with minimal influence of factors such as coordination.

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Behavior

The Successive Alleys Test of Anxiety in Mice and Rats
Robert M.J. Deacon 1
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

The plus-maze measures anxiety-like behaviour in rodents. There are two opposite closed and two opposite open arms; anxious rodents avoid the open arms. The central area is neither completely open nor closed, so time spent here is ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Here a modification of the plus-maze protocol eliminating this area is described.

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Biology

Visualization of DNA Replication in the Vertebrate Model System DT40 using the DNA Fiber Technique
Rebekka A.V. Schwab 1, Wojciech Niedzwiedz 1,2
1Department of Molecular Oncology, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford , 2Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw

DT40, a model vertebrate genetic system, provides a powerful tool to analyze protein function. Here we describe a simple method that allows qualitative analysis of parameters that influence DNA synthesis during the S-phase in DT40 cells at the single molecule level.

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Biology

Preparing Individual Drosophila Egg Chambers for Live Imaging
Timothy T. Weil 1, Richard M. Parton 1, Ilan Davis 1
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford

The Drosophila egg chamber is an excellent model for studying the mechanisms of mRNA localization. In order to capture the dynamic events that underpin the processes of localization, rapid high resolution imaging of live tissue is required. Here, we present a protocol for dissection and imaging of live samples with minimal disruption.

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Developmental Biology

Imaging Calcium in Drosophila at Egg Activation
Christopher J. Derrick *1, Anna H. York-Andersen *1, Timothy T. Weil 1
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

This article describes an adaptable ex vivo protocol for visualizing Ca2+ during egg activation in Drosophila.

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