scholarly journals Postnatal exposure to cocaine in rats housed in an enriched environment: effects on social interactions

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Magalhães ◽  
Teresa Summavielle ◽  
Maria Amélia Tavares ◽  
Liliana de Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Postnatal Life ◽  
Postnatal Exposure ◽  
Social Investigation ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Play Fighting ◽  
Environment Effects ◽  
Cocaine Hydrochloride

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment (EE) in rats exposed to cocaine during the first month of postnatal life by examining several categories of social behaviour (play fighting, social investigation, comfort behaviours and invitation to play). Wistar rats were divided in four groups: pups exposed to cocaine hydrochloride (15 mg/kg body weight/day), sc, in two daily doses, from postnatal day (PND) 1 to 28 and reared in EE; exposed to cocaine as previously described and reared in standard environment (SE); saline-exposed and reared in EE; pups saline-exposed and reared in SE. On PND 21, 24 and 28, social interactions were examined for 10 min. Results show that cocaine animals reared in SE decreased the frequency of play solicitation. Control animals reared in EE exhibited decreased play fighting and social investigation behaviours compared to SE-reared rats. Animals postnatally exposed to cocaine when reared in EE displayed more comfort and invitation to play behaviours and decreased social investigation compared with SE-reared animals. The results suggest that in rats postnatally exposed to cocaine, EE rearing elicited differences in both processing of environmental stimuli and a response to social challenges. Human & Experimental Toxicology (2007) 26, 303-309

scholarly journals Role of environmental enrichment in locomotion, anxiety, memory and social interaction of Wistar rats under chronic treatment of methylphenidate

IBRO Reports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. S329
Author(s):  
Laura Herrera-Isaza ◽  
Karen Corredor ◽  
Fernando Cardenas ◽  
Santiago Zarate ◽  
Angela Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Chronic Treatment

Behavioral consequences of simultaneous postnatal exposure to MK-801 and static magnetic field in male Wistar rats

2019 ◽  
Vol 701 ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monavvar Saeedi Goraghani ◽  
Meysam Ahmadi - Zeidabadi ◽  
Sina Bakhshaei ◽  
Mohammad Shabani ◽  
Samaneh Ghotbi Ravandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Static Magnetic Field ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Postnatal Exposure ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Mk 801 ◽  
Male Wistar Rats

Pre and postnatal exposure to endosulfan in Wistar rats

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo R Dalsenter ◽  
Samanta L deAraújo ◽  
Helena C da Silva de Assis ◽  
Anderson JM Andrade ◽  
Eliane Dallegrave
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Male Offspring ◽  
Postnatal Exposure ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation ◽  
Testis Descent ◽  
Dose Levels ◽  
Daily Sperm Production

The possible reproductive adverse effects of the pesticide endosulfan on male offspring rats exposed in utero and during lactation were investigated. Dams were treated orally with 0, 0.5 or 1.5 mg of endosulfan/kg 21 days prior to mating, during the mating, pregnancy and lactation. Maternal and reproductive outcome data and male sexual development landmarks (testis descent and preputial separation) were assessed. Reproductive endpoints of the male offspring were examined at adulthood: sex organ weights, daily sperm production, spermatid number, sperm transit, sperm morphology and testosterone level. No signs of maternal toxicity were detected at the dose levels tested. Sexual development landmarks were also unaffected. Moreover, with the exception of a significant increase in the relative epididymis weight seen in the group treated with the lowest dose, we have not found any statistically significant adverse effect in the reproductive endpoints investigated at adulthood. The results of the present study indicate that pre and post-natal exposure to low doses of endosulfan (0.5 and 1.5 mg/kg) do not induce significant adverse effects in the reproductive system of male offspring Wistar rats at adulthood.

scholarly journals Environmental enrichment reduces brain excitability in adult rats overnourished during lactation

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 555-559
Author(s):  
Danielle Viana de Souza Alves ◽  
Mariana Séfora Bezerra Sousa ◽  
Maryane Gabriela Tavares ◽  
Luis Gustavo Carvalho dos Santos ◽  
Manuella Batista-de-Oliveira-Hornsby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Spreading Depression ◽  
Nutritional Condition ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Juvenile Phase ◽  
Adult Rat ◽  
Brain Excitability ◽  
Adult Rat Brain

ABSTRACT Objective: This study aimed to analyze whether exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) during the juvenile phase of life interferes with the electrical activity of the adult rat brain. In addition, the present research also investigated whether this putative effect on brain electrical activity could be affected by prior overnutrition during lactation. Electrophysiology was measured through cortical spreading depression (CSD), a phenomenon related to brain excitability. Methods: Wistar rats were suckled in litters of either nine or three pups, forming the nourished (N) or overnourished (ON) groups, respectively. At 36 days old, half of the animals from each nutritional condition were exposed to EE. The other half was kept in the standard environment (SE). At 90-120 days of life, each animal was anesthetized for CSD recordings. Results: Overnutrition during lactation caused increases (p < 0.05) in body and brain weights. The EE decelerated CSD propagation velocity regardless of nutritional state during lactation (p < 0.001). The CSD deceleration in the N-EE group was 23.8% and in the ON-EE group was 15% in comparison with the N-SE and ON-SE groups, respectively. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated that EE exposure in the juvenile phase of the rat's life reduced brain excitability, and this effect was observed even if animals were overnourished during lactation. An EE could be considered an adjuvant therapeutic resource to modulate brain excitability.

scholarly journals Differences in running performance of single- and group-housed mice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uma T Plenz ◽  
Patrick O Kanold
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Light Cycle ◽  
Dark Cycle ◽  
Power Law Decay ◽  
Running Activity ◽  
Running Wheels

Mice are one of several common animal models in neuroscience and mouse behavior is becoming increasingly relevant. Mice are housed either in groups or alone in standard cages during which they show a variety of different behaviors. Moreover, housing conditions might alter the behavior of the mice as do social interactions. When given access to running wheels as an environmental enrichment, mice tend to run long distances preferentially during their dark cycle. However, it is currently not well understood whether and how mice utilize running wheels when single-housed or group-housed. Here we developed a low-cost running wheel data acquisition system to study running in adult C57BL/6 mice at high temporal resolution under different social conditions. As expected, adult C57BL/6 mice prefer to run in stretches during the dark cycle and mostly rest during the light cycle. When single-housed, running bouts occur independent from each other as indicated by an exponential decaying autocorrelation. In contrast, mice run ~50% less when housed in groups of n = 3 and their temporal pattern of running exhibits a power law decay in the autocorrelation indicative of potential social interactions. Our results demonstrate that running wheels are a limited resource for which mice compete for when they are group-housed, thereby reducing their overall running activity.

scholarly journals Rat ultrasonic vocalizations and novelty-induced social and non-social investigation behavior in a seminatural environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrek Heinla ◽  
Xi Chu ◽  
Anders Agmo ◽  
Eelke Snoeren
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Social Investigation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Transfer Of Information

Although rats are known to emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), it remains unclear whether these calls serve an auditory communication purpose. For USVs to be part of communication, the vocal signals will need to be a transfer of information between two or more conspecifics, and with the possibility to induce changes in the behavior of the recipient. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the role of USVs in rats' social and non-social investigation strategies when introduced into a large novel environment with unfamiliar conspecifics. We quantified a wide range of social and non-social behaviors in the seminatural environment, which could be affected by subtle signals, including USVs. We found that during the first hour in the seminatural environment the ability to vocalize did not affect how quickly rats met each other, their overall social investigation behavior, their passive social behavior nor their aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the non-social exploratory behaviors and behaviors reflecting anxiety/stress-like states were also unaffected. These results demonstrated that a disability to vocalize did not result in significant disadvantages (or changes) compared to intact conspecifics regarding social and non-social behaviors. This suggests that other (multi)sensory cues are more relevant in social interactions than USVs.

scholarly journals The Impact of Ethologically Relevant Stressors on Adult Mammalian Neurogenesis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Jorgensen ◽  
James Taylor ◽  
Tyler Barton
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Adult Neurogenesis ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Functional Integration ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Induced Stress ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

Adult neurogenesis—the formation and functional integration of adult-generated neurons—remains a hot neuroscience topic. Decades of research have identified numerous endogenous (such as neurotransmitters and hormones) and exogenous (such as environmental enrichment and exercise) factors that regulate the various neurogenic stages. Stress, an exogenous factor, has received a lot of attention. Despite the large number of reviews discussing the impact of stress on adult neurogenesis, no systematic review on ethologically relevant stressors exists to date. The current review details the effects of conspecifically-induced psychosocial stress (specifically looking at the lack or disruption of social interactions and confrontation) as well as non-conspecifically-induced stress on mammalian adult neurogenesis. The underlying mechanisms, as well as the possible functional role of the altered neurogenesis level, are also discussed. The reviewed data suggest that ethologically relevant stressors reduce adult neurogenesis.

scholarly journals Specific profile of ultrasonic communication in a mouse model of neurodevelopmental disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Premoli ◽  
Sara Anna Bonini ◽  
Andrea Mastinu ◽  
Giuseppina Maccarinelli ◽  
Francesca Aria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mouse Model ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorders ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Maternal Separation ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Social Investigation ◽  
Behavioural Phenotyping ◽  
Ultrasonic Communication ◽  
Specific Profile

Abstract Mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in different social conditions: pups maternal separation, juveniles play, adults mating and social investigation. The USVs measurement has become an important instrument for behavioural phenotyping in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Recently, we have demonstrated that the deletion of the NFκB1 gene, which encodes the p50 NF-κB subunit, causes NDDs phenotype in mice. In this study, we investigated the ultrasonic communication and the effects of an early social enrichment in mice lacking the NF-κB p50 subunit (p50 KO). In particular, USVs of wild-type (WT), p50 KO and KO exposed to early social enrichment (KO enriched) were recorded using an ultrasound sensitive microphone and analysed by Avisoft software. USVs analysis showed that p50 KO pups emit more and longer vocalizations compared to WT pups. On the contrary, in adulthood, p50 KO mice emit less USVs than WT mice. We also found significant qualitative differences in p50 KO mice USVs compared to WT mice; the changes specifically involved two USVs categories. Early social enrichment had no effect on USVs number, duration and type in p50 KO mice. Together, these data revealed social communication alterations in a mouse model of NDDs; these deficits were not recovered by early social enrichment, strengthening the fact that genetic background prevails on environmental enrichment.

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