Setting-up a multimodal and integrated sensory platform to analyze the impact of two mouse models (C57BL6/N; CD-1) in aging research

In the near future, the percentage of elderly populations is expected to increase worldwide, due to augmented life expectancy. In this scenario, Age Related Sensory Decline (ARSD) is supposed to become a large social and economic burden for the health-care system. Therefore, research focused to provide new insights concerning ARSD is mandatory. To date, the laboratory mouse is the most common and predictive model for the study of aging. The ambitious aim of our work is the set-up of an in-vivo integrated multimodal platform to unravel the genetics of sensory decay and social interaction. We combine sensory test and behavioural evaluation with clinical, histopathological and molecular analyses. Specifically, from the functional standpoint we first selected auditory brainstem response and distortion product otoacoustic emission to analyze hearing; optical coherence tomography and electroretinography for sight; odor discrimination for smell; two-bottle preference test for taste; tactile perception threshold and response to thermal stimuli for touch; exposure to physical and social stimuli for social interaction. Then we correlated the resulting dataset to any occurring morphological changes revealed by Micro-CT analysis of the whole brain, along with gene and protein expression analyzed respectively via RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. We aim to provide, for the first time, a full and exhaustive dataset which stems from the contemporary, multimodal analysis of the five senses in two of the most common inbred (C57BL6/N) and outbred (CD1) mouse strains, in both sexes and at different ages. Future refinements of sensory platform may be a real asset for translational studies.