Digital Ventilated Cage activity monitoring uncovers rest-related phenotypes in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases

Sleep disturbances are common in the general population and even more common as symptoms and comorbidities in many neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders like Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Myotonic Dystrophies, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression. It is therefore crucial to develop automated instruments to detect such disturbances in models of human diseases. The DVC® activity monitoring system can be a valuable tool to screen for activity-rest cycle phenotypes in these models. As examples, data from mouse models of two neurodegenerative disorders will be presented to illustrate the potential of home cage monitoring in detecting common rest-related disturbances.