String-pulling for food by the rat: Assessment of movement, topography and kinematics of a bilaterally skilled forelimb act

Blackwell, Ashley A.; Köppen, Jenny R.; Whishaw, Ian Q.; Wallace, Douglas G.

doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2017.03.010

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Rodents spontaneously engage in bimanually coordinated string-pulling behavior that involves hand-over-hand movements to pull in a string to retrieve a food reward (Blackwell et al, 2018ab). String-pulling behavior provides a robust assessment of fine motor control, including functional performance measures and (i.e., task time, contacts, misses) and details about movement organization related to distance and direction, that is sensitive to focal cortical damage in rats (Blackwell et al, 2018c) and simulated space radiation exposure (Blackwell et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

String-Pulling as a Behavioral Assessment of Skilled Forelimb Motor Function in a Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Rat Model

Hart

Blackwell

Whishaw

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in humans and frequently results in bilateral impairments in fine motor control. Many behavioral tasks used to assess rodent models of stroke evaluate a single limb; however, recent work has demonstrated that bilateral hand-over-hand movements used to pull in a string assess skilled movement of both hands. Devascularization focused on the forelimb portion of sensorimotor cortex has been observed to produce persistent disruptions in the topographical organization of string-pulling behavior. The current study examined changes in string-pulling after a more clinically relevant rodent model of stroke via middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Detailed movement analyses revealed disruptions in the bilateral organization of string-pulling and fine motor control of both hands. Rats missed the string more often with both hands, and when the string was missed on the impaired side, rats continued to cycle through subcomponents of string-pulling behavior as if the string were grasped in the hand. Rats also failed to make a grasping motion with the impaired hand when the string was missed and instead, demonstrated an open-handed raking-like motion. No differences were found in time to approach or to complete the string-pulling task to obtain a reward, demonstrating the importance of using a detailed functional analysis of movement to detect changes in performance. String-pulling behavior is sensitive at detecting changes in bilateral rhythmical hand control following MCAO providing a foundation for future work to investigate other models of stroke and to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic interventions that enhance neuroplasticity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

String-Pulling as a Behavioral Assessment of Skilled Forelimb Motor Function in a Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Rat Model

Hart

Blackwell

Whishaw

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Tool-use behavior in rats in the wild has never been reported ( Bentley-Condit and Smith, 2010 ), and spontaneous tool-use behavior has never been observed in the experimental settings ( Nagano and Aoyama, 2017a , b ; Nagano, 2019a , b , 2021 ). However, rats are skillful in using their forelimbs dexterously to pull strings to obtain a food ( Blackwell et al, 2018 ). The movement consists of alternating forelimb movements in which a limb is advanced to grasp a string and withdraw it toward the body in order to retrieve a food reward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training of Motion Control May Not Improve Tool-Manipulation Ability in Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Nagano

2022

Front. Psychol.

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In recent times, previous studies have reported the manipulation of tools by rats and degus in controlled experimental settings. However, a previous study reported that only one out of eight experimentally naïve rats could manipulate a rake-shaped tool according to the position of a food reward without prior experience of obtaining the reward with the tool before the test. The present study aimed to improve the training of rats and investigate rodents’ ability to manipulate tools according to food position. Stricter criteria were employed when training the rats to promote the rats’ monitoring of their own tool manipulation. Additional training was introduced to give them the opportunity to learn that the reward moved closer to them by pulling an object connected to the reward. The present study showed that only one of eight rats could manipulate a tool according to the position of the reward without prior experience of obtaining the reward with the tool or perceiving that part of the tool came in contact with the reward, as the previous study showed. The change in training did not enhance the rats’ tool-manipulation ability according to the food position. These procedures should be conducted in a wider variety of animals to investigate whether the training in motion control can promote the subjects’ effective tool-use behavior.

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“…In these animal model studies, cancer ( Cucinotta et al, 2011 ; Sridharan et al, 2015 ; Blattnig and Chappell, 2016 ), cardiovascular issues ( Baker et al, 2011 ; Boerma, 2015 ), and central nervous system (CNS) damage ( Rabin et al, 2005 ; Cucinotta et al, 2014 ; Parihar et al, 2015 ; Cekanaviciute et al, 2018 ) represent pathologies frequently attributed to a deleterious ionizing radiation dose. Moreover, exposure to high-energy protons, or high-atomic number and energy (HZE) ions produces CNS damage leading to decremental behavioral changes in rodents ( Rabin et al, 1998 , 2015 ; Britten et al, 2012 , 2014 , 2020 , 2018 ; Lonart et al, 2012 ; Haley et al, 2013 ; Cucinotta et al, 2014 ; Hadley et al, 2016 ; Parihar et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Blackwell et al, 2018 ; Carr et al, 2018 ; Jewell et al, 2018 ; Mange et al, 2018 ; Shukitt-hale et al, 2018 ; Kiffer et al, 2019 ) and mission success, as spaceflights require constant alertness and readiness to address critical situations. Many studies utilize the novel object recognition, Barnes maze, Morris water maze, active avoidance, open field, or operant responding as the appropriate behavioral assays to evaluate rodents’ cognitive impairment ( Rabin et al, 1998 , 2011 , 2015 ; Britten et al, 2012 ; Lonart et al, 2012 ; Haley et al, 2013 ; Hadley et al, 2016 ; Parihar et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Carr et al, 2018 ; Jewell et al, 2018 ; Shukitt-hale et al, 2018 ; Kiffer et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Machine Learning Models to Predict Cognitive Impairment of Rodents Subjected to Space Radiation

Matar

Gökoğlu

Prelich

et al. 2021

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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This research uses machine-learned computational analyses to predict the cognitive performance impairment of rats induced by irradiation. The experimental data in the analyses is from a rodent model exposed to ≤15 cGy of individual galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) ions: 4He, 16O, 28Si, 48Ti, or 56Fe, expected for a Lunar or Mars mission. This work investigates rats at a subject-based level and uses performance scores taken before irradiation to predict impairment in attentional set-shifting (ATSET) data post-irradiation. Here, the worst performing rats of the control group define the impairment thresholds based on population analyses via cumulative distribution functions, leading to the labeling of impairment for each subject. A significant finding is the exhibition of a dose-dependent increasing probability of impairment for 1 to 10 cGy of 28Si or 56Fe in the simple discrimination (SD) stage of the ATSET, and for 1 to 10 cGy of 56Fe in the compound discrimination (CD) stage. On a subject-based level, implementing machine learning (ML) classifiers such as the Gaussian naïve Bayes, support vector machine, and artificial neural networks identifies rats that have a higher tendency for impairment after GCR exposure. The algorithms employ the experimental prescreen performance scores as multidimensional input features to predict each rodent’s susceptibility to cognitive impairment due to space radiation exposure. The receiver operating characteristic and the precision-recall curves of the ML models show a better prediction of impairment when 56Fe is the ion in question in both SD and CD stages. They, however, do not depict impairment due to 4He in SD and 28Si in CD, suggesting no dose-dependent impairment response in these cases. One key finding of our study is that prescreen performance scores can be used to predict the ATSET performance impairments. This result is significant to crewed space missions as it supports the potential of predicting an astronaut’s impairment in a specific task before spaceflight through the implementation of appropriately trained ML tools. Future research can focus on constructing ML ensemble methods to integrate the findings from the methodologies implemented in this study for more robust predictions of cognitive decrements due to space radiation exposure.

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String-pulling for food by the rat: Assessment of movement, topography and kinematics of a bilaterally skilled forelimb act

Cited by 27 publications

References 34 publications

String-Pulling as a Behavioral Assessment of Skilled Forelimb Motor Function in a Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Rat Model

String-Pulling as a Behavioral Assessment of Skilled Forelimb Motor Function in a Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Rat Model

Training of Motion Control May Not Improve Tool-Manipulation Ability in Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Machine Learning Models to Predict Cognitive Impairment of Rodents Subjected to Space Radiation

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