Housing R6/2 Mice with Wild-Type Littermates Increases Lifespan

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Story, Darren^{a; c} | Gallien, John^{a; b} | Al-Gharaibeh, Abeer^{a; b} | Sandstrom, Michael^{b; c} | Rossignol, Julien^{a; b; d} | Dunbar, Gary L.^{a; b; c; e; *}

Affiliations: [a] Field Neurosciences Institute for Restorative Neurology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA | [b] Program in Neuroscience, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA | [c] Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA | [d] College of Medicine, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA | [e] Field Neurosciences Institute, St. Mary’s of Michigan, Saginaw, MI, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Gary L. Dunbar, Psychology/Neuroscience Program, Health Professions 2182, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, USA. E-mail: dunba1g@cmich.edu.

Abstract: The R6/2 murine model of Huntington’s disease (HD) is extensively used in HD research. The current study replicates and extends previous work assessing the impact of housing R6/2 mice with healthy wild-type (WT) littermates on disease progression. The current study extends the previous finding by including male cohorts and the use of a standard diet and water regimen, as opposed to the enhanced diet used in the previous study. This study found that the inclusion of healthy wild-type (WT) littermates, alone, improved survivabilty in R6/2 mice, but did not have a significant impact on weight loss.

Keywords: R6/2, Huntington’s disease, environmental enrichment, survivability, housing

DOI: 10.3233/JHD-210474

Journal: Journal of Huntington's Disease, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 455-458, 2021