All behavioral tests were conducted 1 week prior to sacrifice. Mice were habituated to the testing room for 2 hours before testing. To measure open field activity, the mice were singly housed and the cage was placed inside a laser monitoring device consisting of an open, rectangular frame containing sensors (Opto-M3 activity meter, Columbus Instruments). The number of infrared beam breaks was quantified over a 12-hour period during the dark cycle from 6 pm to 6 am using Multi Device Interface software version 1.3 (Columbus Instruments). For each animal, data was collected for up to 3 consecutive days and averaged. Food and water were available ad libitum.
To assess motor coordination and balance, mice were tested on the Rotarod (Ugo Basile, model 7650). The mice were acclimated to the apparatus with four training sessions of 5 min each at 4 rpm, followed by 5 min of rest in the home cage. Testing was performed one hour later with two trials in which speed was accelerated from 4 to 40 rpm in 300 sec. For each mouse, the latency to fall off the Rotarod within this time period was recorded for the two trials and averaged.
To assess motor coordination and balance, mice were tested on the Rotarod (Ugo Basile, model 7650). The mice were acclimated to the apparatus with four training sessions of 5 min each at 4 rpm, followed by 5 min of rest in the home cage. Testing was performed one hour later with two trials in which speed was accelerated from 4 to 40 rpm in 300 sec. For each mouse, the latency to fall off the Rotarod within this time period was recorded for the two trials and averaged.