IntelliProfiler: a research workflow for analyzing multiple animals with a high-resolution home-cage RFID system

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Science
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Accurate, scalable behavioral phenotyping for multi-animal interactions is crucial.
• Existing methods often lack the resolution or scalability for complex social dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce IntelliProfiler, a workflow for analyzing locomotor activity and social proximity in mice.
• To demonstrate the workflow's utility in assessing group dynamics and social behaviors.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a high-resolution radio frequency identification (RFID) floor plate system.
• Developed data processing scripts to reconstruct individual mouse trajectories and pairwise proximity.
• Applied the workflow to assess effects of sex, group size, aging, and paternal aging on behavior.

Main Results:

• Male mice maintained greater inter-animal distances than females, an effect amplified by group size.
• Aging decreased locomotor activity and altered proximity patterns in a group size-dependent manner.
• Offspring of aged fathers showed hyperactivity and increased social distance, mirroring autism spectrum disorder phenotypes.

Conclusions:

• IntelliProfiler offers a practical and versatile method for behavioral phenotyping in group-housed mice.
• The workflow facilitates the study of social dynamics and complex behaviors in neuroscience.
• Findings highlight the influence of sex, age, and paternal aging on social behavior and activity levels.