Minimal influence of estrous cycle on studies of female mouse behaviors.

Introduction: Sex bias has been an issue in many biomedical fields, especially in neuroscience. In rodent research, many scientists only focused on male animals due to the belief that female estrous cycle gives rise to unacceptable, high levels of variance in the experiments. However, even though female sexual behaviors are well known to be regulated by estrous cycle, which effects on other non-sexual behaviors were not always consistent in previous reports. Recent reviews analyzing published literature even suggested that there is no evidence for larger variation in female than male in several phenotypes. Methods: To further investigate the impact of estrous cycle on the variability of female behaviors, we conducted multiple behavioral assays, including the open field test, forced swimming test, and resident-intruder assay to assess anxiety-, depression-like behaviors, as well as social interaction respectively. We compared females in the estrus and diestrus stages across four different mouse strains: C57BL/6, BALB/c, C3H, and DBA/2. Results: Our results found no significant difference in most behavioral parameters between females in these two stages. On the other hand, the differences in behaviors among certain strains are relatively consistent in both stages, suggesting a very minimal effect of estrous cycle for detecting the behavioral difference. Last, we compared the behavioral variation between male and female and found very similar variations in most behaviors between the two sexes. Discussion: While our study successfully identified behavioral differences among strains and between the sexes, we did not find solid evidence to support the notion that female behaviors are influenced by the estrous cycle. Additionally, we observed similar levels of behavioral variability between males and females. Female mice, therefore, have no reason to be excluded in future behavioral research.

OL-SLAM: A Robust and Versatile System of Object Localization and SLAM.

This paper proposes a real-time, versatile Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and object localization system, which fuses measurements from LiDAR, camera, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and Global Positioning System (GPS). Our system can locate itself in an unknown environment and build a scene map based on which we can also track and obtain the global location of objects of interest. Precisely, our SLAM subsystem consists of the following four parts: LiDAR-inertial odometry, Visual-inertial odometry, GPS-inertial odometry, and global pose graph optimization. The target-tracking and positioning subsystem is developed based on YOLOv4. Benefiting from the use of GPS sensor in the SLAM system, we can obtain the global positioning information of the target; therefore, it can be highly useful in military operations, rescue and disaster relief, and other scenarios.

Lack of social touch alters anxiety-like and social behaviors in male mice.

The importance of social interactions has been reported in a variety of animal species. In human and rodent models, social isolation is known to alter social behaviors and change anxiety or depression levels. During the coronavirus pandemic, although people could communicate with each other through other sensory cues, social touch was mostly prohibited under different levels of physical distancing policies. These social restrictions inspired us to explore the necessity of physical contact, which has rarely been investigated in previous studies on mouse social interactions. We first conducted a long-term observation to show that pair-housed mice in a standard laboratory cage spent nearly half the day in direct physical contact with each other. Furthermore, we designed a split-housing condition to demonstrate that even with free access to visual, auditory, and olfactory social signals, the lack of social touch significantly increased anxiety-like behaviors and changed social behaviors. There were correspondingly higher levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 in the hippocampus in mice with no access to physical contact. Our study demonstrated the necessity of social touch for the maintenance of mental health in mice and could have important implications for human social interactions.

Potential cross-species correlations in social hierarchy and memory between mice and young children.

Social hierarchy is associated with various phenotypes. Although memory is known to be important for hierarchy formation, the difference in memory abilities between dominant and subordinate individuals remains unclear. In this study, we examined memory performance in mice with different social ranks and found better memory abilities in dominant mice, along with greater long-term potentiation and higher memory-related gene expression in the hippocampus. Daily injection of memory-improving drugs could also enhance dominance. To validate this correlation across species, through inventory, behavioral and event-related potential studies, we identified better memory abilities in preschool children with higher social dominance. Better memory potentially helped children process dominance facial cues and learn social strategies to acquire higher positions. Our study shows a remarkable similarity between humans and mice in the association between memory and social hierarchy and provides valuable insight into social interactions in young animals, with potential implications for preschool education.

The decisive role of subordination in social hierarchy in weanling mice and young children.

Social hierarchy plays important roles in maintaining social structures. Despite similarity in concept, frameworks of human hierarchy have seldom been investigated in parallel with other animals. Moreover, the importance of subordination in hierarchical formation has been largely underestimated in previous research. Here we established, compared, and investigated hierarchy in children and weanling mice. Temperament assessments suggested that children who are less persistent, low emotional intensity, and withdrew easily were more likely to be subordinate in competitive scenarios independent of task characteristics and interaction experiences. The tube test further showed that conflicts between mice were not resolved by winner approach but by loser withdrawal, which was mainly determined by intrinsic subordinate status regardless of opponents. Our study presents evolutionary conserved hierarchical relationships in young and a critical role of the intrinsic subordinate characteristics in hierarchical determination. These findings provide a new perspective on social interactions with potential implications for preschool education.

Molecularly imprinted polymers on graphene oxide surface for EIS sensing of testosterone.

A novel electrochemical biosensor was developed for ultrasensitive determination of testosterone from femtomolar to micromolar levels via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The sensor features a nanosized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film that was electrochemically grafted on a graphene-oxide sheets modified electrode. The detection mechanism of this senor is explained via the change of the interfacial impedance that derived from the recognition of the target molecule. Due to the nanosheet structure as well as the high surface area of graphene-oxide, the sensitivity of the MIP sensor is enhanced remarkably. Under an optimized condition, a wide linear range from 1fM to 1µm (1×10-15-1×10-6molL-1) and a detection limit of 0.4fM (4.0×10-16molL-1) was obtained. This composite film presented a good selectivity over structurally similar steroid hormones, and a long term stability in room temperature for the detection of testosterone. Considering these advantages, the MIP/GO electrochemical biosensor could be a substitute of testosterone immunosensor, and may be further extended to the detection of other endogenous substances.