We investigated the interaction between behavioural dimensions and cognitive performance in the inbred mouse strains C57BL/6 and DBA/2, which have previously been found to differ in cognitive performance and emotionality. Because it has never been evaluated whether cognitive performance and emotional behaviour are interrelated in these strains, we analysed various behavioural dimensions and cognitive functions in parallel using the modified hole board test. We could show that naive BL6 and DBA mice distinctly differed in terms of anxiety-related behaviour. Principal component analysis on the phenotyping data showed that anxiety-related behaviour was described by identical parameters and was not correlated to locomotion in the two strains. During cognitive testing, DBA mice habituated faster and performed better than BL6 mice. Principal component analysis indicated a close correlation between anxiety-related behaviour and cognitive performance in DBA mice, being associated with a highly successful cognitive performance. In BL6 mice, cognition was correlated to general exploration. This correlation turned out to be less successful in performing the modified hole board test. Our findings support the idea that high anxiety may interact with specific cognitive processing, thus offering a promising animal model for future preclinical research on the interaction of anxiety and cognition.

Behavioural experiments in mice are often carried out during the resting phase of these nocturnal animals. Ignoring the fact that mice are more active during the dark period, results from resting-phase testing has also been used to characterize these animals. Since the influence of the light/dark cycle on testing is likely to be a relevant factor for the analysis of behavioural results, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the relative time of the day as well as light conditions during testing on behavioural and cognitive performance in inbred mice. Naïve DBA/2N (DBA) mice were tested in the modified hole board (mHB) either during the dark phase under red light or during the light phase under white light. Different behavioural dimensions and cognitive functions were evaluated in parallel. Depending on the testing conditions, the results showed significant differences in behavioural activity, with DBA mice being less inhibited during dark phase. The same experimental group made fewer memory errors in a visuo-spatial task and showed a faster habituation compared with the group tested during the dark phase. From the results we conclude that testing during the light phase induces a pronounced behavioural inhibition as well as a cognitive disruption in DBA mice, which should be taken into account when cognitively testing these animals.

There is profound evidence that cognitive processes and anxiety are interrelated. To learn more about this interaction, the authors tested rats bred for either high (HABs) or low (LABs) anxiety-related behavior in a modified hole board task. This task allows parallel investigation of various cognitive processes and possibly related behavioral dimensions, both under baseline conditions and during cognitively stressful situations. The authors provide evidence that the degree of anxiety is differentially associated with enhanced performance for distinct informational processes in rats. As HABs and LABs did not differ in their anxiety-related behavior after habituation, that is, in a familiar environment during appetitive learning, the authors conclude that anxiety behavior in naive HABs may be due to differential cognitive processing.

SummaryThere is strong evidence for a pivotal interaction of corticosteroid signalling and behavioral adaptation to stress. To further elucidate this relation, we monitored the dynamics of free corticosterone in the murine hippocampus of two inbred mouse strains using in vivo microdialysis. C57BL/6JOlaHsd (C57BL/6) and DBA/2OlaHsd (DBA/2) inbred mouse strains have been shown to differ in their anxiety-related and depression-like behavior and provide, thus, an interesting animal model to study the stimulus-response profile of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system as a function of emotional and physical load. We, first, compared peripheral and intracerebral concentration patterns of corticosterone by simultaneous microdialysis of the jugular vein and the hippocampus in anesthetized mice and found strain differences in blood versus intracerebral free corticosterone concentrations. C57BL/6 showed almost the same steroid levels in either compartment, whereas DBA/2 mice displayed higher glucocorticoid levels in the circulation than in the hippocampus. This data suggest a strain difference in the tissue environment influencing the amount of biological active corticosterone at the receptor site. Measurements of intrahippocampal corticosterone in freely moving mice revealed that DBA/2 display a prolonged glucocorticoid increase in response to a single forced swimming stress (FST), as compared to C57BL/6 mice indicating a reduced inhibitory HPA axis feedback. Exposure to a novel environment (NE) induced a desensitization of the HPA system in DBA/2 animals as they show an attenuated intracerebral corticosterone dynamics after a subsequent FST. Testing animals in an elevated plus-maze (EPM), however, did not significantly stimulate coriticosterone release in either strain. The analysis of the area under the curve revealed a high amount of corticosterone released through FST and a low glucocorticoid release after NE or EPM exposure that are independent of the strain. This data indicate a strong stimulus dependency of corticosterone secretion that is strain independent, whereas the dynamics and feedback of the HPA axis is different between both inbred strains. Behavioral phenotyping of animals revealed a strong impact of microdialysis procedure on FST and EPM performance. Innate emotionality differences of both strains, however, were not affected. Though descriptive in nature, the present results suggest an altered corticosteroid signalling in the DBA/2 strain compared to C57BL/6 mice. Whether this observation causally underlies the differences in anxiety-related and depression-like behavior has to be further experimentally validated. In addition, our study highlights the use of in vivo microdialysis to assess the neuroendocrine endophenotype of animal models via profiling of stimulus-response patterns of stress hormones. ARTICLE IN PRESS

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