Open AccessInnate Preferences Affect Results of Object Recognition Task in Wild Type and Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Models
Author(s) -
Maria Rosaria Tropea,
Giuseppe Sanfilippo,
Federico Giannino,
Valentina Davì,
Walter Gulisano,
Daniela Puzzo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of alzheimer's disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.677
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1875-8908
pISSN - 1387-2877
DOI - 10.3233/jad-215209
Subject(s) - affordance , novelty , object (grammar) , cognitive psychology , preference , task (project management) , psychology , confounding , affect (linguistics) , disease , innate immune system , neuroscience , biology , computer science , communication , social psychology , artificial intelligence , medicine , immunology , engineering , immune system , systems engineering , pathology , economics , microeconomics
Background: Object recognition task (ORT) is a widely used behavioral paradigm to assess memory in rodent models, due to its easy technical execution, the lack of aversive stressful stimuli, and the possibility to repeat the test on the same animals. However, mouse exploration might be strongly influenced by a variety of variables. Objective: To study whether innate preferences influenced exploration in male and female wild type mice and the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model 3xTg. Methods: We first evaluated how object characteristics (material, size, and shape) influence exploration levels, latency, and exploration modality. Based on these findings, we evaluated whether these innate preferences biased the results of ORT performed in wild type mice and AD models. Results: Assessment of Exploration levels, i.e., the time spent in exploring a certain object in respect to the total exploration time, revealed an innate preference for objects made in shiny materials, such as metal and glass. A preference for bigger objects characterized by higher affordance was also evident, especially in male mice. When performing ORT, exploration was highly influenced by these innate preferences. Indeed, both wild type and AD mice spent more time in exploring the metal object, regardless of its novelty. Furthermore, the use of objects with higher affordance such as the cube was a confounding factor leading to “false” results that distorted ORT interpretation. Conclusion: When designing exploration-based behavioral experiments aimed at assessing memory in healthy and AD mice, object characteristics should be carefully evaluated to improve scientific outcomes and minimize possible biases.