Models of Anxiety: Ultrasonic Vocalizations of Isolated Rat Pups

By use of isolated gastric glands from rats at various ages, we demonstrated that full-term neonate and 1-day-old rats showed no response to cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-OP), carbachol, or Ca2+ ionophore. The same glands, however, were responsive to dibutyryl cAMP. A mature response was not found until the pups were 2 days old. Injection of hydrocortisone into newborn rats led to an increase in pepsinogen concentrations in gastric glands and also an increased responsiveness to CCK-OP, carbachol, and Ca2+ ionophore A23187 24 h after administration. Hydrocortisone thus caused precocious maturation of both pepsinogen accumulation and pepsinogen secretory responsiveness of gastric glands in rat pups.

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Ontogeny of noradrenergic effects on ultrasonic vocalizations in rat pups.

Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.1037/0735-7044.103.5.1099 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 103 (5) ◽

pp. 1099-1107 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Priscilla Kehoe ◽

James C. Harris

Keyword(s):

Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽

Rat Pups

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Early Life Maternal Separation and Maternal Behaviour Modulate Acoustic Characteristics of Rat Pup Ultrasonic Vocalizations

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-54800-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jasmine H. Kaidbey ◽

Manon Ranger ◽

Michael M. Myers ◽

Muhammad Anwar ◽

Robert J. Ludwig ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Maternal Separation ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽

Maternal Behaviour ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Acoustic Characteristics ◽

Rat Pups ◽

Before And After ◽

And Control

AbstractEarly separation of preterm infants from their mothers has adverse, long-term neurodevelopmental consequences. We investigated the effects of daily maternal separation (MS) of rat pups from postnatal days 2–10 (PND2–10) on neurobehavioural responses to brief isolation at PND12 compared with pups receiving controlled handling without MS. Ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) were measured at PND12 during two, 3-minute isolations occurring immediately before and after a 3-minute maternal reunion. There were no significant differences in acoustic characteristics between MS and control animals in the first isolation. However, in the second isolation, MS pups produced a greater proportion of high (~60 kHz) vs low (~40 kHz) frequency calls. During this isolation, control pups made longer and louder low frequency calls compared to the first isolation, whereas MS pups did the opposite. Maternal behaviour of control and MS mothers modulated pup acoustic characteristics in opposite directions; higher maternal care was associated with more low frequency calls in control pups but more high frequency calls in MS pups. We hypothesize that MS results in USV emission patterns reflective of a greater stress response to isolation. This translational model can be used to identify mechanisms and interventions that may be exploited to overcome the negative, long-term effects of MS.

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