Test battery approaches have been developed for the initial assessment of phenotypic behavioral differences of transgenic, knockout and inbred strains of mice. The standard test battery, originally developed by the Paylor Lab, includes: open field activity, light-dark exploration, rotarod, prepulse inhibition (PPI), acoustic startle habituation, conditioned fear, Morris water maze and hot plate. Tests are conducted in the order listed (least invasive to most invasive), to minimise carry-over effects from prior testing experience. Two studies will be discussed, investigating (1) whether differences exist between mice that have undergone testing on different tasks versus naive mice, and (2) whether the order of the tests within a battery affects how an animal performs on subsequent tasks.

In the first experiment, C57BL/6J male mice were evaluated on all of the tests described above and compared with gender- and age-matched naive mice. The results indicate that, on some tests, the behavior of the 'test battery' mice was significantly different to that of naive mice, while on other tests there were no differences. Experiments for the second study used an abbreviated test battery with 129S6/SvEvTac and C57BL/6J male mice at ten weeks of age. The results suggested that certain test variables were sensitive to test order, while others were resistant.

These two studies demonstrate that some behavioral tests appear to be sensitive to previous testing experience, while others are immune. Studies evaluating the feasibility of a high throughput test battery and its use in biotechnology will also be discussed.

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