Multiple presentations reduce the behavioral impact of protected predator exposure in rats.

Autor: Genovese RF; Behavioral Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, USA. Electronic address: Raymond.F.Genovese.Civ@mail.mil., Johnson CC; Behavioral Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, USA., Tobin CA; Behavioral Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, USA., Gauchan S; Behavioral Biology Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Behavioural processes [Behav Processes] 2014 Oct; Vol. 108, pp. 105-9. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 Oct 02.
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.09.032
Abstrakt: Exposure of rats to a predator species, such as a cat, or stimuli associated with a predator species has been used to model the effects of traumatic stress. We further investigated this procedure to determine if the behavioral effects from such exposure could be increased by multiple exposures. In rats (n=8 for each treatment group), we evaluated single (1×) and multiple (1×/day for 3 consecutive days [3×] and 2×/day for 3 consecutive days [6×]) exposures using cats and soiled cat litter. All exposures were 15min in duration and the rats were directly exposed to the cats but in a protected fashion that did not allow the predator to physically injure the rat. Sham exposures were conducted using similar conditions without the presence of the predator or litter. The effects of the exposures were evaluated using an elevated plus maze (EPM). Sessions on the EPM were conducted before the exposures and at various times after the exposure. Difference scores (post-pre) were calculated for dependent measures from the EPM, and statistical analyses compared the slopes and intercept values derived from regression functions from these scores over the post-exposure sessions. During the first 30 days after exposure, a significant reduction in activity on the EPM was observed for the 1× treatment and a smaller reduction was observed for the 3× treatment, but no reduction was observed for the 6× and sham control treatments. Thus, increasing the number of exposures did not increase the magnitude of the effect but, instead, resulted in a decrease. These results show that adaptation to the effects of the predator exposure occurred with repeated sessions.
(Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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