Use of a force-plate actometer for detecting and quantifying vertical leaping induced by amphetamine in BALB/cJ mice, but not in C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, 129X1/SvJ, C3H/HeJ, and CD-1 mice

The force-plate actometer is a relatively new computer-based instrument with high temporal and spatial resolution that has been used to measure the behavioral effects of genetic restriction (e.g., inbred mice) and drugs (e.g., dopaminergic agonists and antagonists) on a variety of behaviors in rodents, including locomotor activity, stereotypies, tremor, and wall rearing. In the present study, the force-plate actometer was used to measure the differential effects of amphetamine-induced (10.0 mg/kg) vertical leaping in five inbred mouse strains (BALB/cJ, C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, 129X1/SvJ, and C3H/HeJ) and one outbred stock (CD-1). Across a 13-day, five-injection procedure, mice of the BALB/cJ strain leaped an average of 82 times per 60-min session; the C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, 129X1/SvJ, C3H/HeJ strains and CD-1 stock always showed zero or near zero levels of vertical leaping following amphetamine treatment. The quantitative precision afforded by the force-plate actometer revealed that the mean duration of the leaps by the BALB/cJ strain was 0.18 s, and the corresponding peak force averaged 87.4 g per leap, which was more than 400% of the average body weight of this strain. Although no evidence of behavioral sensitization was indicated for amphetamine's effects on vertical leaping, sensitization to amphetamine's effects on spatial confinement (i.e., bouts of low mobility) was observed in all mouse types. Results indicate that the force-plate actometer is an instrument well suited for detecting and quantifying both vertical leaping and collateral behaviors induced by amphetamine in mice.