Source Paper
Sex‐specific acceleration of Alzheimer's pathogenesis by chronic sleep‐deprivation
Wear D, Morrone CD, Simpson D, Liu F, Hussaini SA et al.
Alzheimers Dement • 2026
Home-cage Assessment
Objective: To continuously record and track mouse movement in home cage environment to assess sleep behavior and nesting activity
Protocol Steps
Place mice in PhenoTypers
Place mice individually in the PhenoTypers at 3 p.m. on the concluding day of the 2‐week sleep disruption
View evidence from paper
“Mice were placed individually in the PhenoTypers at 3 p.m. on the concluding day”
Habituation period
Allow mice to habituate for 2.5 hours before beginning recordings
View evidence from paper
“Following a 2.5‐h habituation, recordings began at 6:30 p.m.”
Begin continuous recording
Start recordings at 6:30 p.m. and continue for 25 hours
View evidence from paper
“recordings began at 6:30 p.m. and continued for 25 h”
Remove mice
Remove mice from the PhenoTyper at 9 a.m. the following day after a total of 42 hours
View evidence from paper
“Mice were removed from the PhenoTyper at 9 a.m. the following day after a total of 42 h”
Analyze velocity data
Record mean velocity of mouse center point with time binned into 10-second intervals
View evidence from paper
“the mean velocity of the mouse center point was recorded, and time was binned into 10‐s intervals”
Define sleep attempts
Consider mouse to be attempting sleep if average velocity is under 0.1 cm/s for four straight 10-second intervals
View evidence from paper
“A mouse was considered to be "attempting sleep" if their average velocity was under 0.1 cm/s for four straight 10‐s intervals”
Score nests
Score nests at 18, 24, and 42 hours from 1 to 5 based on published protocol
View evidence from paper
“nests were scored at 18, 24, and 42 h from 1 to 5 based on previously published protocol”
Weigh unshredded nestlet
Weigh the unshredded portion of the nestlet after 42 hours
View evidence from paper
“the unshredded portion of the nestlet was weighed after 42 h”