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

Darren Story; John Gallien; Abeer Al-Gharaibeh; Michael Sandstrom; Julien Rossignol; Gary L Dunbar

doi:10.3233/JHD-210474

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

J Huntingtons Dis. 2021;10(4):455-458. doi: 10.3233/JHD-210474.

Authors

Darren Story^{1

2}, John Gallien^{1

3}, Abeer Al-Gharaibeh^{1

3}, Michael Sandstrom^{3

2}, Julien Rossignol^{1

3

4}, Gary L Dunbar^{1

3

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Field Neurosciences Institute for Restorative Neurology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA.
² Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA.
³ Program in Neuroscience, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA.
⁴ College of Medicine, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA.
⁵ Field Neurosciences Institute, St. Mary's of Michigan, Saginaw, MI, USA.

PMID: 34511507
DOI: 10.3233/JHD-210474

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: Huntington’s disease; R6/2; environmental enrichment; housing; survivability.

Publication types

Letter
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Disease Models, Animal
Housing
Huntington Disease* / genetics
Longevity / genetics
Male
Mice
Mice, Transgenic