Motor and non-motor behaviour in experimental Huntington's disease

Dagmar H. Zeef*, Rinske Vlamings, Lee Wei Lim, Sonny Tan, Marcus L. F. Janssen, Ali Jahanshahi, Govert Hoogland, Jos Prickaerts, Harry W. M. Steinbusch, Yasin Temel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In this study, we investigated motor and non-motor behaviour in the transgenic rat model of Huntington's disease (tgHD). In particular, we were interested in the development and changes of motor and non-motor features (anxiety, motivation and hedonia) of disease over time and their interactions. We found tgHD animals to be hyperkinetic in the open field test compared to their wild-type littermates at all ages tested, which was accompanied by reduced anxiety-like behaviour in the open field test and the elevated zero maze, but not in the home cage emergence test. No major changes were found in hedonia (sucrose intake test) and motivation for food (food intake test). Our data suggest that hyperkinetic features and reduced-anxiety in the tgHD rats are associated behaviours and are seen in the earlier stages of the disease.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)435-439
JournalBehavioural Brain Research
Volume226
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Huntington's disease
  • Transgenic rats
  • Anxiety
  • Hypermobility
  • Motivation
  • Food intake
  • Hedonia

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