Biology subjects

Jones-Tinsley, C. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Jones-Tinsley, C. E..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Neurotype matching in monogamous rodents is modulated by early-life sleep experience

Studies of human sociability indicate stronger social affinity in matched-neurotype dyads (e.g., two individuals with autism or two without) compared to mixed-neurotype dyads (e.g., one individual with autism paired with one without). Is this neurotype matching phenomenon also quantifiable in non-human animals? Using deep learning tools, we analyzed dyadic male-female interactions in prairie voles, a highly social rodent species. To simulate "neurotypes", voles were exposed to either control conditions or early-life sleep disruption (ELSD) during a critical neurodevelopmental period (postnatal days 14-21), recapitulating two features of human autism: developmental sleep disruption and later-life atypical sociability. Analogous to human studies, voles showed signs of reduced social affinity in mixed dyads compared to matched dyads, including sex-specific changes in aggression and body orientation toward the conspecific. These findings advance our understanding of social affinity, providing a framework for new studies in both animal models and humans.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2024

Quantifying social roles in multi-animal videos using subject-aware deep-learning

Analyzing social behaviors is critical for many fields, including neuroscience, psychology, and ecology. While computational tools have been developed to analyze videos containing animals engaging in limited social interactions under specific experimental conditions, automated identification of the social roles of freely moving individuals in a multi-animal group remains unresolved. Here we describe a deep-learning-based system - named LabGym2 - for identifying and quantifying social roles in multi-animal groups. This system uses a subject-aware approach: it evaluates the behavioral state of every individual in a group of two or more animals while factoring in its social and environmental surroundings. We demonstrate the performance of subject-aware deep-learning in different species and assays, from partner preference in freely-moving insects to primate social interactions in the field. Our subject-aware deep learning approach provides a controllable, interpretable, and efficient framework to enable new experimental paradigms and systematic evaluation of interactive behavior in individuals identified within a group.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Early life sleep disruption has long lasting, sex specific effects on later development of sleep in prairie voles

In mammals, sleep duration is highest in the early postnatal period of life and is critical for shaping neural circuits that control the development of complex behaviors. The prairie vole is a wild, highly social rodent that serves as a unique model for the study of complex, species-typical social behaviors. Previous work in our laboratory has found that early life sleep disruption (ELSD) in prairie voles during a sensitive window of postnatal development leads to long lasting changes in social and cognitive behaviors as well as structural changes in excitatory and inhibitory neural circuits in the brain. However, it is currently unknown how later sleep is impacted by ELSD, both shortly after ELSD and over the long term. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the effects of ELSD on later life sleep, compared to sleep in normally developing prairie voles. First, we conducted tethered electroencephalogram/electromyogram (EEG/EMG) recordings in juvenile prairie voles undergoing ELSD, compared to Control conditions. Second, we conducted 24 hours of home cage tethered EEG/EMG recordings in either adolescent or adult male and female prairie voles that had previously undergone ELSD or Control conditions as juveniles. We found that, as adults, male ELSD prairie voles showed persistently lower REM sleep duration and female ELSD prairie voles showed persistently higher NREM sleep duration compared to Controls, but no other sleep parameters differed. We concluded that 1) persistent effects of ELSD on sleep into adulthood may contribute to the social and cognitive deficits observed in adult voles, and 2) sleep disruption early in life can influence later sleep patterns in adulthood.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Early-life sleep disruption impairs subtle social behaviors during pair bond formation in prairie voles: A computer vision study

Early life sleep disruption (ELSD) has been shown to have long lasting effects on social behavior in adult prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), including impaired expression of pair bond behavior during partner preference testing (e.g., reduced huddling with a pair bonded partner). However, due to the limitations of manual behavior tracking, the behavioral effects of ELSD across the entire time course of pair bond formation have not yet been described, hindering our ability to trace mechanisms. Here, we used computer vision to precisely track multiple behaviors during opposite-sex cohabitation of prairie voles. Male-female pairs were allowed to interact through a mesh divider in the home cage for 72 h, providing variables of body direction, distance-to-divider, and locomotion speed, with temporal resolution as high as the video frame rate (20-25 Hz). We found that control males displayed periodic, stereotyped patterns of body orientation towards females during pair bond formation. In contrast, ELSD males showed reduced duration and ultradian periodicity of these body orientation behaviors towards females. Furthermore, in both sexes, ELSD altered stereotypical spatial and temporal patterns of locomotion seen in control animals that typically varied across days of cohabitation and light/dark periods. This study highlights the utility of computer vision in deep characterization of subtle behaviors and allows a more comprehensive behavioral assessment of the profound and persistent effects of ELSD on later life social behavior. Our findings may shed light on causal mechanisms underlying human neurodevelopmental disorders featuring sleep disruption and social deficits, such as autism spectrum disorder.

animal behavior and cognition↗