Behavioral phenotyping of mouse models of neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's (HD), Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's diseases (AD), are characterized by the loss of structure and function of specific neuronal circuitry in the brain. As a result of this loss, behavioral symptoms occur progressively. Understanding the causes of neurodegeneration is fundamental for the development of new therapeutic targets. For this purpose, several animal models of neurodegenerative disorders have been generated and characterized. During the characterization, behavioral science plays a crucial role by identifying specific symptoms in these animal models of human disorders. Later on, it also allows scientists to verify the efficacy of new treatments. This chapter describes some of the standard tests used to assess behavioral symptoms present in mouse models of neurodegenerative disorders. A list of procedures is provided to evaluate motor skills for the study of ALS, HD, and PD models, and to evaluate spatial learning and memory for the study of AD models.