Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Early Nutritional Modifications: A Beginner's Guide to Behavioral Analysis

Early parental nutritional interventions during prenatal development have been shown to result in neuropsychiatric sequelae in the adult offspring. In order to understand the impact of such nutritional interventions, the behavior of the animal has to be carefully analyzed. This chapter provides a step-by-step guide to conduct behavioral tests in adult mice for investigators without specific expertise or those without the equipment to carry out behavioral studies. We focus on tests tapping into the main behavioral abnormalities that correspond to mental illnesses. We describe the materials required and the detailed methods to conduct global assessment of parameters such as behavioral integrity and general well-being, psychomotor activity, social behavior, repetitive behavior, anxiety-like behavior, depression-like behavior, short-term spatial working memory, and spatial reference memory.