ArticleJournal of neuroscience research2021
Digging behavior discrimination test to probe burrowing and exploratory digging in male and female mice.
Article in Journal of neuroscience research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Linking Inflammation, Aberrant Glutamate-Dopamine Interaction, and Post-synaptic Changes: Translational Relevance for Schizophrenia and Antipsychotic Treatment: a Systematic Review.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Pooled it
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- Increased expression of ATase1/NAT8B or ATase2/NAT8 in the mouse results in an autistic-like phenotype with altered dendritic branching and spine formation.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- The tube-plugging test: a simple assay that reveals offspring-centered defensive behavior in postpartum mice.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Profiling of research domain criteria-based behaviors following single prolonged stress in male C57BL/6J mice.Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Intact corticostriatal function in aged system xTranslational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Mixed genetic background better recapitulates developmental and psychiatric phenotypes and heterogeneity than inbred C57BL/6J mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Review
- Differential behavior responses and genetic alteration underpinning exercise effectiveness in stress-susceptible mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The deletion of the arginine vasopressin 1a receptor impairs sexual and maternal behavior.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Real-time behavioral monitoring of C57BL/6J mice during reproductive cycle.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Function of orexin-1 receptor signaling in the olfactory tubercle in odor-guided attraction and aversion.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Psychedelics for the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Efficacy and Proposed Mechanisms.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Genetic disruption of dopamine β-hydroxylase dysregulates innate responses to predator odor in mice.Neurobiology of stress · 2024Article
- Genetic disruption of dopamine β-hydroxylase dysregulates innate responses to predator odor in mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Optogenetic recruitment of hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing-hormone (CRH) neurons reduces motivational drive.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Characterization of Apathy-Like Behaviors in Mouse Models of Down Syndrome.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Article
- Sexual differences in locus coeruleus neurons and related behavior in C57BL/6J mice.Biology of sex differences · 2023Article
- Paternal early life stress exerts intergenerational effects on male C57Bl/6J offspring risk-taking behaviors and predator scent-induced c-Fos expression.Neuronal signaling · 2023Article
- Galactic Cosmic Irradiation Alters Acute and Delayed Species-Typical Behavior in Male and Female Mice.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Digging behavior is often used to test motor function and repetitive behaviors in mice. Different digging paradigms have been developed for behaviors related to anxiety and compulsion in mouse lines generated to recapitulate genetic mutations leading to psychiatric and neurological disorders. However, the interpretation of these tests has been confounded by the difficulty of determining the motivation behind digging in mice. Digging is a naturalistic mouse behavior that can be focused toward different goals, that is foraging for food, burrowing for shelter, burying objects, or even for recreation as has been shown for dogs, ferrets, and human children. However, the interpretation of results from current testing protocols assumes the motivation behind the behavior often concluding that increased digging is a repetitive or compulsive behavior. We asked whether providing a choice between different types of digging activities would increase sensitivity to assess digging motivation. Here, we present a test to distinguish between burrowing and exploratory digging in mice. We found that mice prefer burrowing when the option is available. When food restriction was used to promote a switch from burrowing to exploration, males readily switched from burrowing to digging outside, while females did not. In addition, when we tested a model of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder that had shown inconsistent results in the marble burying test, the Cc2d1a conditional knockout mouse, we found greatly reduced burrowing only in males. Our findings indicate that digging is a nuanced motivated behavior and suggest that male and female rodents may perform it differently.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.