Test, rinse, repeat: A review of carryover effects in rodent behavioral assays. (April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cnops, Vanja; Iyer, Vinaya Rajagopal; Parathy, Nageiswari; Wong, Peiyan; Dawe, Gavin S.
• Is Part Of: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Volume 135(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-04
• Subjects: Behavioral phenotyping -- Anxiety -- Cognition -- Depression -- Habituation -- Aging -- Inter-test interval -- Longitudinal testing -- Testing effects; Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; Human behavior -- Periodicals; Animal behavior -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Behavior -- Periodicals; Ethology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychophysiologie -- Périodiques; Comportement humain -- Périodiques; Animaux -- Mœurs et comportement -- Périodiques; Neurologie -- Périodiques; Animal behavior; Human behavior; Neurology; Psychophysiology; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 573.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104560
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-7634

Abstract

Abstract: Behavioral phenotyping has been gaining prominence due to the increased use of transgenic animal models of neurological disorders. Repeated testing in the same cohort of animals can reduce the overall number of animals used and is desired especially when animal numbers are difficult to obtain as well as for studies involving within-subject design such as drug treatments or aging. This review aims to provide researchers with a comprehensive overview of the carryover effects when subjecting the same set of animals to the same behavioral test. We have focused on three behavioral domains of testing: anxiety, cognition and depression. Based on a review of the literature and our own experiences as a neurobehavioral core facility, we have found that manipulating inter-test interval, environmental contextual cues and stimuli can mitigate the carryover effects to a large extent, although there are certain tests that still show strong residual effects. In addition, the effects of strain on carryover effects from repeated testing are also discussed in this review. Highlights: Repeating the same behavioral test on the same animals may cause carryover effects. Carryover effects differ across different anxiety, cognition and depression tests. Repeated testing poses a problem when prior experience changes the animal's behavior. Changing inter-test intervals and environmental cues can mitigate carryover effects.