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Stevanovic KD, Fry SA, DeFilipp JMS, Wu N, Bernstein BJ, Cushman JD. Assessing the importance of sex in a hippocampus-dependent behavioral test battery in C57BL/6NTac mice. LEARNING & MEMORY (COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y.) 2022; 29:203-215. [PMID: 35882502 PMCID: PMC9374270 DOI: 10.1101/lm.053599.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Inclusion of male and female subjects in behavioral neuroscience research requires a concerted effort to characterize sex differences in standardized behavioral assays. Sex differences in hippocampus-dependent assays have been widely reported but are still poorly characterized. In the present study, we conducted a parametric analysis of spontaneous alternation, object recognition, and fear conditioning in a commonly used control strain, C57BL/6NTac. Our findings show largely similar performance between males and females across the majority of behavioral end points. However, we identified an important difference in nonassociative fear sensitization, whereby females showed an enhanced fear response to the 75-dB tone that is used as the conditional stimulus. In addition, we observed an impairment in object location performance in females that was ameliorated by more extensive habituation to handling. Together, these findings argue that sex differences in nonassociative fear responses to both novel auditory cues and novel objects need to be considered when designing and interpreting cognitive assays in C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, this elevated fear sensitization could serve as a novel approach to model the increased incidence of anxiety disorders in women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Korey D Stevanovic
- Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, North Carolina 27709, USA
| | - Sydney A Fry
- Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, North Carolina 27709, USA
| | - Jemma M S DeFilipp
- Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, North Carolina 27709, USA
| | - Nicholas Wu
- University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Briana J Bernstein
- Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, North Carolina 27709, USA
| | - Jesse D Cushman
- Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, North Carolina 27709, USA
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3
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Karp NA, Mason J, Beaudet AL, Benjamini Y, Bower L, Braun RE, Brown SDM, Chesler EJ, Dickinson ME, Flenniken AM, Fuchs H, Angelis MHD, Gao X, Guo S, Greenaway S, Heller R, Herault Y, Justice MJ, Kurbatova N, Lelliott CJ, Lloyd KCK, Mallon AM, Mank JE, Masuya H, McKerlie C, Meehan TF, Mott RF, Murray SA, Parkinson H, Ramirez-Solis R, Santos L, Seavitt JR, Smedley D, Sorg T, Speak AO, Steel KP, Svenson KL, Wakana S, West D, Wells S, Westerberg H, Yaacoby S, White JK. Prevalence of sexual dimorphism in mammalian phenotypic traits. Nat Commun 2017. [PMID: 28650954 PMCID: PMC5490203 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 162] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of sex in biomedical studies has often been overlooked, despite evidence of sexually dimorphic effects in some biological studies. Here, we used high-throughput phenotype data from 14,250 wildtype and 40,192 mutant mice (representing 2,186 knockout lines), analysed for up to 234 traits, and found a large proportion of mammalian traits both in wildtype and mutants are influenced by sex. This result has implications for interpreting disease phenotypes in animal models and humans. Systemic dissection of sexually dimorphic phenotypes in mice is lacking. Here, Karp and the International Mouse Phenotype Consortium show that approximately 10% of qualitative traits and 56% of quantitative traits in mice as measured in laboratory setting are sexually dimorphic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasha A Karp
- Mouse Informatics Group, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.,Quantitative Biology, AstraZeneca, Unit 310, Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge CB4 0WG, UK
| | - Jeremy Mason
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Arthur L Beaudet
- Human and Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Yoav Benjamini
- Department of Statistics and O.R. School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Lynette Bower
- Mouse Biology Program, University of California, 2795 Second Street, Suite 400, Davis, California 95618, USA
| | - Robert E Braun
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA
| | | | - Elissa J Chesler
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA
| | - Mary E Dickinson
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Ann M Flenniken
- The Centre for Phenogenomics, 25 Orde Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 3H7
| | - Helmut Fuchs
- German Mouse Clinic, Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, Neuherberg 85764, Germany
| | - Martin Hrabe de Angelis
- German Mouse Clinic, Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, Neuherberg 85764, Germany.,School of Life Science Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Alte Akademie 8, Freising 85354, Germany.,German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Ingostädter Landstr. 1, Neuherberg 85764, Germany
| | - Xiang Gao
- Model Animal Research Center, Nanjing University, 12 Xuefu Road, Pukou, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210061, China
| | - Shiying Guo
- Model Animal Research Center, Nanjing University, 12 Xuefu Road, Pukou, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210061, China
| | | | - Ruth Heller
- Department of Statistics and O.R. School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Yann Herault
- CELPHEDIA, PHENOMIN, Institut Clinique de la Souris, 1 Rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 1 Rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U964, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Université de Strasbourg, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France
| | - Monica J Justice
- The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8
| | - Natalja Kurbatova
- Department of Statistics and O.R. School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Christopher J Lelliott
- Mouse Genetics Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - K C Kent Lloyd
- Mouse Biology Program, University of California, 2795 Second Street, Suite 400, Davis, California 95618, USA
| | | | - Judith E Mank
- Department of Genetics, Evolution &Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Hiroshi Masuya
- BioResource Center, RIKEN, 3-1-1 Koyadai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
| | - Colin McKerlie
- The Centre for Phenogenomics, 25 Orde Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 3H7.,The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 0A4
| | - Terrence F Meehan
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Richard F Mott
- Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Stephen A Murray
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA
| | - Helen Parkinson
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Ramiro Ramirez-Solis
- Mouse Genetics Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Luis Santos
- MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell Campus, Harwell OX11 0RD, UK
| | - John R Seavitt
- Human and Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Damian Smedley
- Clinical Pharmacology, Queen Mary University of London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Tania Sorg
- CELPHEDIA, PHENOMIN, Institut Clinique de la Souris, 1 Rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 1 Rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U964, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France.,Université de Strasbourg, 1 rue Laurent Fries, Illkirch 67404, France
| | - Anneliese O Speak
- Mouse Genetics Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Karen P Steel
- Mouse Genetics Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.,Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, Wolfson Wing, Hodgkin Building, Guys Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Karen L Svenson
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA
| | | | - Shigeharu Wakana
- BioResource Center, RIKEN, 3-1-1 Koyadai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
| | - David West
- Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, 5700 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Oakland, California 94609, USA
| | - Sara Wells
- MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell Campus, Harwell OX11 0RD, UK
| | | | - Shay Yaacoby
- Department of Statistics and O.R. School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Jacqueline K White
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA.,Mouse Genetics Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
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