Knowledge Base

The Sociability Test (Three-Chamber Paradigm)

The three-chamber paradigm test known as Crawley's sociability and preference for social novelty protocol has been successfully employed to study social affiliation and social memory in several inbred and mutant mouse lines. Sociability testing is a more specific study of social behavior and only focuses on the behavior of one animal towards others. There are several variances to this test, all conducted in a three-chambered test apparatus.

In the first variant, the animal's interest in a social stimulus (a conspecific in a wired cage placed in one of the outer chambers) versus a neutral stimulus (an empty wired cage placed in the other outer chamber) is studied. In a preference test for social novelty, the two wired cages contain a familiar and an unfamiliar conspecific. A third variation involves testing the social preference for two different, but both unfamiliar conspecifics.

In most cases the interest is measured by assessing the time spent in the same chamber or in close proximity to the familiar or unfamiliar other mouse.

Representative Results

Typically, a wild type animal will spend significantly more time in the compartment with a strange mouse compared to the compartment with empty cage, indicating normal sociability, social motivation and affiliation.

In the social novelty test, the subject has a free choice between the first, already-investigated, now-familiar mouse, and a novel unfamiliar mouse. Usually, a wild-type animal recalls its previous contact with the familiar mouse, and, in this session, tends to spend more time with the newly encountered mouse, indicating intact social memory and predilection for novel experiences.

References

• Nadler, J.J., Moy, S.S., Dold, G., Perez, A., Young, N.B., Barbaro, R.P., Piven, J., Magnuson, T.R., Crawley, J.N. (2004). Automated apparatus for rapid quantification of social approach behaviors in mice. Genes Brain Behav., :303–314.
• Moy, S.S., Nadler, J.J., Perez, A., Barbaro, R.P., Johns, J.J., Magnuson, T.R., Piven, J., Crawley, J.N. (2004). Sociability and preference for social novelty in five inbred strains: an approach to assess autistic-like behaviors in mice. Genes Brain Behav., 287–302.
• Bechtstein, P., Rehbach, N.-J., Yuhasingham, G., Schürmann, C., Göpfert, M., Kössl, M., Maronde, E. (2014). The clock gene Period1 regulates innate routine behavior in mice. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 20140034. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0034.
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• Kim J-W, Seung H, Kwon KJ, Ko MJ, Lee EJ, et al. (2014). Subchronic treatment of donepezil rescues impaired social, hyperactive, and stereotypic behavior in valproic acid-induced animal model of autism. PLoS ONE, (8): e104927. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104927.
• Ter Horst, J.P., van der Mark, M., Kentrop, J., Arp, M., van der Veen, R., de Kloet, E.R., & Oitzl, M.S. (2014). Deletion of the forebrain mineralocorticoid receptor impairs social discrimination and decision-making in male, but not in female mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 26. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00026.

Source: EthoVision XT 18 - Application Manual, Noldus Information Technology