Marble Burying Autism

The marble burying test occurred 8 days following the grooming test to ensure there were no potential residual effects from the initial drug treatment birdsall et al 1978.

Marble burying autism.

Gene editing eases the frantic burying of marbles bottom right in a mouse model of fragile x syndrome bottom left. The marble burying test protocol described below is modified from deacon 2006 and angoa perez kane briggs francescutti kuhn 2013. Marble burying is a repetitive digging behavior that is perseverative and resistant to changes based on familiarity. For the repetitive domain the t maze spontaneous alternation test and marble burying test are described.

Mice were placed individually in an open arena 51 5 cm by 51 5 cm by 31 cm containing fresh bedding i e sawdust 5 cm deep with 20 clean marbles prearranged in a 5 by 4 grid. It has been suggested as a screening test for anxiolytic response but more recently has been proposed as modeling repetitive behaviors characteristic of mental disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder ocd or autism spectrum disorder asd thomas et al. After the test period buried marbles were counted manually. In this unit behavioral tests are described that are relevant to the domains affected in asd.

Marble burying the marble burying test is a useful model of neophobia 1 anxiety 1 7 and obsessive compulsive behavior 8 11. Materials mice at least 6 weeks of age 70 ethanol for cleaning clean standard polycarbonate mouse cage 29 75 61 5 74 inches high 76 autism behavioral 156 188 cm high tests in mice 11 22 2. It is based on the observation that rats and mice will bury either harmful or harmless objects in their bedding. Mice were allowed to bury the marbles for 20 min.

Rodents naturally exhibit a large number of behaviors that can be linked to similar behaviors in human. A primary advantage of the marble burying and nestlet shredding tests is the fact that each depends on natural and spontaneous behaviors of mice that can be quantified after test completion allowing a single investigator to set up an experiment and then remain outside of the testing room until sessions end. Subjects received a different treatment before marble burying from that administered during the spontaneous self grooming experiment with the exception of three b6 mice. It has also been proposed that the test may have predictive validity for the screening of novel antidepressants 12 15 anxiolytics 15 16 and antipsychotics 17 19.

Disease head injury genetic modifications and treatment of mice with drugs can have profound effects on behavior.