Some features of learning in Morris water test were studied in gray rats after a long-term selection for elimination (tame strain) and enhancement (aggressive strain) of aggressiveness towards human. The content of plasma corticosteroids was estimated at different stages of learning. It was shown that tame rats were better in performance of a special Morris task than aggressive ones. The time of search for invisible platform was increased in aggressive rats owing to the fact that they spent more time near the pool walls. Also, time of rearing at the platform was higher in tame rats compared to aggressive animals. In the retention test, rats of both strains spent significantly more time in the target quadrant than they did in other quadrants. Rats of both strains did not differ in time of search for invisible platform when it was replaced to the opposite quadrant. After the first day of learning, the corticosteroid plasma level was lower in tame rats than aggressive animals. During the following days of training, the content of the hormone increased in tame rats and did not differ from aggressive rats. It is supposed that, in tame rats, low emotionality and stress response facilitated learning in Morris water test.
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Biochemistry (Mosc)
June 2024
Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia.
At the Institute of Cytology and Genetics (Novosibirsk, Russia) for over 85 generations, gray rats have been selected for high aggression toward humans (aggressive rats) or its complete absence (tame rats). Aggressive rats are an interesting model for studying fear-induced aggression. Benzopentathiepin TC-2153 exerts an antiaggressive effect on aggressive rats and affects the serotonergic system: an important regulator of aggression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
April 2024
Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
The process of domestication, despite its short duration as it compared with the time scale of the natural evolutionary process, has caused rapid and substantial changes in the phenotype of domestic animal species. Nonetheless, the genetic mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. The present study deals with an analysis of the transcriptomes from four brain regions of gray rats (), serving as an experimental model object of domestication.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHippocampus
June 2023
Department of Animal Science, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Since 1959, the Russian Farm-Fox study has bred foxes to be either tame or, more recently, aggressive, and scientists have used them to gain insight into the brain structures associated with these behavioral features. In mice, hippocampal area CA2 has emerged as one of the essential regulators of social aggression, and so to eventually determine whether we could identify differences in CA2 between tame and aggressive foxes, we first sought to identify CA2 in foxes (Vulpes vulpes). As no clearly defined area of CA2 has been described in species such as cats, dogs, or pigs, it was not at all clear whether CA2 could be identified in foxes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
February 2023
Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
Int J Mol Sci
January 2023
Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), 10 Akad. Lavrentyeva Ave., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
The (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) gene contains eight regulatory exons (I-VIII) alternatively spliced to the protein-coding exon IX. Only exons I, II, IV, and VI are relatively well studied. The BDNF system and brain serotonergic system are tightly interconnected and associated with aggression.
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