In order to facilitate behavioral, and potentially pharmacological, analyses of risk assessment behaviors in mice, a rat exposure test (RET) was devised and evaluated. This test provides a home chamber connected via a tunnel to a rat (predator) exposure area. Familiar substrate is provided to permit burying, and mouse subjects are habituated to the apparatus prior to exposure to an amphetamine-activated rat. In comparison to toy-rat-exposed controls, rat-exposed BALB/c mice showed significantly more risk assessment [stretch attend posture (SAP) and stretch approach], freezing, and avoidance (time in the home chamber), and less time in contact with the wire mesh screen between itself and the threat stimulus. When BALB/c, C57BL/6, CD-1, and Swiss-Webster mice were compared in this test, the two inbred strains (BALB/c and C57BL/6) tended to show more extreme values of particular defensive behaviors, compared to the two outbred strains (Swiss-Webster and CD-1). C57BL/6 mice showed more avoidance and higher levels of SAP, freezing, and burying than BALB/c and more than one or both outbred strains as well. BALB/c mice showed little defensive burying, both in comparison to toy-exposed controls (Experiment 1), and in comparison to the three other strains in Experiment 2. These findings are somewhat at variance with characterizations of anxiety in C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice, based on tests utilizing novel areas and noxious stimuli, suggesting strain differences in defensiveness to such stimuli, compared to antipredator defense levels. Nonetheless, with the exception of burying in BALB/c mice, all strains showed all defensive behaviors measured to the rat stimulus. In particular, SAP levels were substantial in all strains tested, suggesting the usefulness of this test in assessment of the role of risk assessment in defense.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.02.010 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Effects of moderate beer consumption on immunity and the gut microbiome in immunosuppressed mice.
Biosci Microbiota Food Health
August 2024
Department of Microecology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, PR China.
Beer contains a variety of bioactive ingredients and trace elements that can regulate bodily functions, and moderate consumption of beer can enhance immune responses. This study aimed to investigate the potential benefits of moderate consumption of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer on the gut microbiome, immunity, and intestinal barrier function in immunosuppressed BALB/c mice induced by cyclophosphamide (CTX). Model mice with CTX-induced immunosuppression were administered alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer or galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) for 28 consecutive days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCarrier-Free, Hyaluronic Acid-Modified Self-Assembled Doxorubicin, and Chlorin e6 Nanoparticles Enhance Combined Chemo- and Photodynamic Therapy in vivo.
Int J Nanomedicine
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Optometry and Visual Science, National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Background: Developing carrier-free nanomedicines via self-assembly of two antitumor drug molecules is a potential strategy for enhancing the combination treatment of tumors. Similarly, conventional chemotherapy combined with photodynamic therapy may synergistically improve the antitumor effect while minimizing the adverse reactions associated with antitumor treatment. Hyaluronic acid (HA) can bind to overexpressed HA receptors on the tumor cell surface, increasing cell internalization and resulting in good tumor-targeting properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe attenuated Pseudorabies virus vaccine Bartha K61 induces a weak cellular immunity: implications for the development of PRV-vectored vaccines.
Front Immunol
January 2025
MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Virology, Zhejiang University Center for Veterinary Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
Pseudorabies virus (PRV), causing Aujeszky's disease in swine, has important economic impact on the pig industry in China and even poses a threat to public health. Although this disease has been controlled by vaccination with PRV live attenuated vaccines (LAVs), the potency of PRV LAVs in inducing cellular immunity has not been well characterized. In this study, using PRV Bartha K61 strain (BK61), the most-used PRV LAVs, as a model, we re-examined the cellular immune response elicited by the BK61 in mice and pigs by multicolor flow cytometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEHMT2-mediated R-loop formation promotes the malignant progression of prostate cancer via activating Aurora B.
Clin Transl Med
January 2025
Department of Urology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Background: Chromosomal instability (CIN), a hallmark of cancer, is commonly linked to poor prognosis in high-grade prostate cancer (PCa). Paradoxically, excessively high levels of CIN may impair cancer cell viability. Consequently, understanding how tumours adapt to CIN is critical for identifying novel therapeutic targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogenicity of tick-derived lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus in BALB/c mice.
BMC Vet Res
January 2025
Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China.
Background: Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) is a zoonotic pathogen primarily transmitted by rodents. Recently, LCMV has been detected in ticks from northeastern China; however, the pathogenicity of this virus in murine models remains to be elucidated.
Results: Here, we examined the tick-derived LCMV strain JX14 by inoculating BALB/c mice with 3.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!