Social propinquity in rodents as measured by tube cooccupancy differs between inbred and outbred genotypes

Alexander H Tuttle; Shannon Tansley; Kimberly Dossett; Sarasa Tohyama; Arkady Khoutorsky; Sioui Maldonado-Bouchard; Liane Stein; Lindsey Gerstein; Hayley Crawhall-Duk; Rebecca Pearl; Melissa Sukosd; Philip Leger; Oliver M Hardt; David Yachnin; Jean-Sebastien Austin; Claire M Chan; Tine Pooters; Isabelle Groves; Loren J Martin; Nahum Sonenberg; Christos G Gkogkas; Jeffrey S Mogil

doi:10.1073/pnas.1703477114

Social propinquity in rodents as measured by tube cooccupancy differs between inbred and outbred genotypes

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 May 23;114(21):5515-5520. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1703477114. Epub 2017 May 8.

Authors

Alexander H Tuttle^{1

2}, Shannon Tansley^{1

2}, Kimberly Dossett^{1

2}, Sarasa Tohyama^{1

2}, Arkady Khoutorsky^{3

4}, Sioui Maldonado-Bouchard^{1

2}, Liane Stein^{1

2}, Lindsey Gerstein^{1

2}, Hayley Crawhall-Duk^{1

2}, Rebecca Pearl^{1

2}, Melissa Sukosd^{1

2}, Philip Leger^{1

2}, Oliver M Hardt^{5

6}, David Yachnin^{1

2}, Jean-Sebastien Austin^{1

2}, Claire M Chan⁷, Tine Pooters^{6

8}, Isabelle Groves^{6

8}, Loren J Martin⁷, Nahum Sonenberg^{9

4}, Christos G Gkogkas^{10

8}, Jeffrey S Mogil^{11

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1 Canada.
² Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1 Canada.
³ Department of Biochemistry McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A3 Canada.
⁴ Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A3 Canada.
⁵ Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ United Kingdom.
⁶ The Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada.
⁸ Centre for Integrative Physiology University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD United Kingdom.
⁹ Department of Biochemistry McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A3 Canada; jeffrey.mogil@mcgill.ca nahum.sonenberg@mcgill.ca Christos.Gkogkas@ed.ac.uk.
¹⁰ The Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ United Kingdom; jeffrey.mogil@mcgill.ca nahum.sonenberg@mcgill.ca Christos.Gkogkas@ed.ac.uk.
¹¹ Department of Psychology McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1 Canada; jeffrey.mogil@mcgill.ca nahum.sonenberg@mcgill.ca Christos.Gkogkas@ed.ac.uk.

Abstract

Existing assays of social interaction are suboptimal, and none measures propinquity, the tendency of rodents to maintain close physical proximity. These assays are ubiquitously performed using inbred mouse strains and mutations placed on inbred genetic backgrounds. We developed the automatable tube cooccupancy test (TCOT) based on propinquity, the tendency of freely mobile rodents to maintain close physical proximity, and assessed TCOT behavior on a variety of genotypes and social and environmental conditions. In outbred mice and rats, familiarity determined willingness to cooccupy the tube, with siblings and/or cagemates of both sexes exhibiting higher cooccupancy behavior than strangers. Subsequent testing using multiple genotypes revealed that inbred strain siblings do not cooccupy at higher rates than strangers, in marked contrast to both outbred and rederived wild mice. Mutant mouse strains with "autistic-like" phenotypes (Fmr1^-/y and Eif4e Ser209Ala) displayed significantly decreased cooccupancy.

Keywords: autism; genetics; propinquity; rodent behavior; social interaction.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Female
Genotype
Inbreeding*
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred Strains
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Social Behavior*
Stress, Psychological

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding