Assessments of cognitive abilities in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease with a touch screen test

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience both motor output deficits and cognitive disabilities. Various PD rodent models have been developed to investigate the genetic and brain circuit-related causes of PD and have contributed to the basic and clinical research and to therapeutic strategies for this disease. Most studies using PD rodent models have focused on the motor output deficits, rather than cognitive disabilities due to the lack of appropriate testing tools that do not require significant motor abilities. In this study, we assessed the cognitive disabilities of PD model mice using a touch screen test that required only little motor ability. We found that the PD model mice, which had motor deficits caused by unilateral striatal dopaminergic degeneration, successfully underwent operant conditioning with a touch screen test. Additionally, we found that the PD model mice demonstrated impaired location discrimination, but intact attention and reversal learning in the cognitive tests. Therefore, the touch screen test is useful for assessing hidden cognitive disabilities in disease model animals with decreased motor function.