Grooming Behavior Quantification
Objective: Quantification of grooming time and repetitive grooming behavior in mice through video analysis to assess rescue of autistic-like phenotypes
This is a Grooming Behavior Quantification protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 2016 paper published in Nature.
Model and subjects
mouse • C57BL/6J • male • 2-4.5 months at treatment initiation
Study window
~6 week study window
Core workflow
Tamoxifen treatment initiation • Post-treatment waiting period • Videotaping of grooming behavior
Primary readouts
- Percentage of time spent grooming
- Grooming frequency
- Presence and healing of lesions from overgrooming
- Fur regrowth in previously lesioned areas
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
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- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
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Protocol Steps
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Tamoxifen treatment initiation
Mice at 2-4.5 months of age receive tamoxifen via oral gavage to induce Cre-mediated gene restoration
Note: Treatment timing is critical for adult rescue experiments
View evidence from paper
“When the Shank3 fx/fx:CreER +/− mice reached 2–4.5 months, we used oral gavage to deliver tamoxifen to ensure efficient Cre-mediated gene restoration”
Post-treatment waiting period
Allow at least 6 weeks after treatment before conducting behavioral experiments
Note: Experimenter blinded to genotypes during this period
View evidence from paper
“All electrophysiological and behavioral experiments were done at least 6 weeks after treatment in adult mice with the experimenter being blinded to the genotypes”
Videotaping of grooming behavior
Videotape WT, TM, and KO mice after treatment to record grooming behavior
Note: Video recording captures natural grooming behavior in treated mice
View evidence from paper
“we videotaped WT, TM, and KO mice after treatment, and quantified their grooming time”
Quantification of grooming time
Analyze video recordings to quantify the percentage of time spent grooming for each mouse group
Note: Comparison made between WT, TM, and KO groups
View evidence from paper
“The results indicated that while there was a significant increase in the percentage of time spent grooming in the KO mice compared to WT mice, TM mice exhibited significantly reduced grooming time”
Assessment of lesion healing
Observe and document healing of lesions and regrowth of fur in mice that initially developed lesions during tamoxifen treatment
Note: Provides additional evidence that repetitive/excessive grooming phenotype is reversible
View evidence from paper
“In addition, during the tamoxifen treatment, we noticed that some Shank3 fx/fx:CreER +/− mice that initially developed lesions began to heal and regrow their lost fur”