ePoster

Behavioral assessment of cognitive models of schizophrenia using novel mouse CANTAB-like test battery

Konstantin Andrianov, Inna Gaisler-Salomon
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Konstantin Andrianov, Inna Gaisler-Salomon

Abstract

Cognition is among the first domains to be affected in schizophrenia and can predict the onset of psychosis. Measuring cognitive changes in schizophrenia is a complex process, which often involves a battery of multiple tests, where individual performance is compared to the average performance of the healthy population. Animal models are often used to probe into mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction. However, animal models of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia and other disorders usually focus on a single cognitive domain using a limited number of cognitive assays. In addition, behavioral analysis is performed at the group level without reference to individual variability. In the present study, we designed a battery of cognitive tests equivalent to the schizophrenia-relevant human CANTAB battery. This battery included multiple relevant assays per animal such as learning, memory, social behavior tests, problem-solving, and extra-dimensional set-shifting. To assess the relevance of the battery to schizophrenia research, we tested glutamate dehydrogenase (Glud1)-deficient mice, previously shown to mimic schizophrenia-like phenotypes (Lander et al. 2019). The performance of each animal in each assay was compared to the average performance of a control group, and the classification of animals into levels of cognitive vulnerability was based on abnormal performance in several assays. Animals were categorized into three groups: High-, Average- or Low-cognitive performers. We found an unequal distribution of cognitive performance in the different genotypes tested. This indicates that the novel mouse CANTAB-like battery may be a useful tool for the assessment of cognitive abnormalities in schizophrenia.

Unique ID: fens-24/behavioral-assessment-cognitive-models-7a5b0dd7