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Analysis of Grooming Behavior and Its Utility in Studying Animal Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

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Book cover Mood and Anxiety Related Phenotypes in Mice

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 42))

Abstract

In rodents, grooming is a complex and ethologically rich behavior, sensitive to stress and various genetic and pharmacological manipulations, all of which may alter its gross activity and patterning. Observational analysis of grooming activity and its microstructure may serve as a useful measure of stress and anxiety in both wild and laboratory animals. Few studies have looked at grooming behavior more than cursorily, though in-depth analysis of the behavior would immensely benefit fields utilizing rodent research. Here, we present a qualitative approach to grooming activity and patterning analysis in mice, which provides insight into the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression on this behavioral domain. The method involves quantification of the transitions between different stages of grooming, the percentages of incorrect or incomplete grooming bouts, as well as the regional distribution of grooming activity. Using grooming patterning as a behavioral endpoint, this approach permits assessment of stress levels of individual animals, allows identification of grooming phenotypes in various mouse strains, and has vast implications in biological psychiatry, including psychopharmacology, genetics, neurophysiology, and experimental modeling of affective disorders.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the NARSAD YI Award to AVK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, DC, USA

    Amanda N. Smolinsky, Carisa L. Bergner & Justin L. LaPorte

  2. Department of Physiology and Biophysics as well as the Stress Physiology and Research Center (SPaRC), Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, DC, USA

    Allan V. Kalueff

Authors
  1. Amanda N. Smolinsky
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  2. Carisa L. Bergner
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  3. Justin L. LaPorte
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  4. Allan V. Kalueff
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of Maryland, W. Baltimore Street 685, Baltimore, 21201, U.S.A.

    Todd D. Gould

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© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Smolinsky, A.N., Bergner, C.L., LaPorte, J.L., Kalueff, A.V. (2009). Analysis of Grooming Behavior and Its Utility in Studying Animal Stress, Anxiety, and Depression. In: Gould, T. (eds) Mood and Anxiety Related Phenotypes in Mice. Neuromethods, vol 42. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-303-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-303-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-302-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-303-9

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