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Rowell MK, Rymer TL. The consistency of exploration behaviours across life stages in a native Australian rodent, the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes. Behav Processes 2023; 207:104857. [PMID: 36914016 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2023]
Abstract
Many species show inter-individual variation in exploratory behaviours that are consistent over time, reflecting a personality. Differences in exploration can affect how individuals acquire resources and use their environment. However, few studies have considered whether exploratory behaviours are consistent across developmental life stages, such as when individuals disperse out the natal territory or when they become sexually mature. We therefore investigated the consistency of exploration behaviours towards a novel object and novel environment in a native Australian rodent, the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes across development. Individuals were tested in an open field test and novel object test for five trials across four different life stages (pre-weaning, recently weaned, independent juvenile, sexually mature adult). We found that individual mosaic-tailed rats were consistent in their exploration of novel objects over these life stages, as these behaviours were repeatable and did not change across testing replicates. However, how individuals explored novel environments was not repeatable and changed across development, with exploration peaking during the independent juvenile stage. These results suggest that the way an individual interacts with novel objects may be somewhat constrained by genetic or epigenetic effects early in development, whereas spatial exploration could be more flexible to facilitate developmental shifts, such as dispersal. The life stage of an animal should therefore be taken into consideration when assessing personality in different species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misha K Rowell
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia; Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P.O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia.
| | - Tasmin L Rymer
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia; Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P.O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia
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Ferreira-Sgobbi R, de Figueiredo RM, Frias AT, Matthiesen M, Batistela MF, Falconi-Sobrinho LL, Vilela-Costa HH, Sá SI, Lovick TA, Zangrossi H, Coimbra NC. Panic-like responses of female Wistar rats confronted by Bothrops alternatus pit vipers, or exposure to acute hypoxia: Effect of oestrous cycle. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 55:32-48. [PMID: 34850475 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety-related diseases are more than twice as common in women than in men, and in women, symptoms may be exacerbated during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Despite this, most research into the underlying mechanisms, which drives drug development, have been carried out using male animals. In an effort to redress this imbalance, we compared responses of male and female Wistar rats during exposure to two unconditioned threatening stimuli that evoke panic-related defensive behaviours: confrontation with a predator (Bothrops alternatus) and acute exposure to hypoxia (7% O2 ). Threatened by venomous snake, male and female rats initially displayed defensive attention, risk assessment, and cautious interaction with the snake, progressing to defensive immobility to overt escape. Both males and females displayed higher levels of risk assessment but less interaction with the predator. They also spent more time in the burrow, displaying inhibitory avoidance, and more time engaged in defensive attention, and non-oriented escape behaviour. In females, anxiety-like behaviour was most pronounced in the oestrous and proestrus phases whereas panic-like behaviour was more pronounced during the dioestrus phase, particularly during late dioestrus. Acute hypoxia evoked panic-like behaviour (undirected jumping) in both sexes, but in females, responsiveness in late dioestrus was significantly greater than at other stages of the cycle. The results reveal that females respond in a qualitatively similar manner to males during exposure to naturally occurring threatening stimuli, but the responses of females is oestrous cycle dependent with a significant exacerbation of panic-like behaviour in the late dioestrus phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renata Ferreira-Sgobbi
- Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Department of Psychology, Division of Psychobiology, Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences and Literature of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,NAP-USP-Neurobiology of Emotions Research Centre (NuPNE), Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Behaviour of Snakes Division-MEDUSA Project, Behavioural Neurosciences Institute (INeC), Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Rebeca Machado de Figueiredo
- Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,NAP-USP-Neurobiology of Emotions Research Centre (NuPNE), Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Alana Tercino Frias
- Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Melina Matthiesen
- Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Matheus Fitipaldi Batistela
- Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Luiz Luciano Falconi-Sobrinho
- Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,NAP-USP-Neurobiology of Emotions Research Centre (NuPNE), Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Behaviour of Snakes Division-MEDUSA Project, Behavioural Neurosciences Institute (INeC), Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Ophidiarium LNN-FMRP-USP/INeC, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Heloísa Helena Vilela-Costa
- Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Susana Isabel Sá
- Unidade de Anatomia, Departamento de Biomedicina, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Thelma Anderson Lovick
- Behaviour of Snakes Division-MEDUSA Project, Behavioural Neurosciences Institute (INeC), Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Hélio Zangrossi
- Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,NAP-USP-Neurobiology of Emotions Research Centre (NuPNE), Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Behaviour of Snakes Division-MEDUSA Project, Behavioural Neurosciences Institute (INeC), Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Norberto Cysne Coimbra
- Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,NAP-USP-Neurobiology of Emotions Research Centre (NuPNE), Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Behaviour of Snakes Division-MEDUSA Project, Behavioural Neurosciences Institute (INeC), Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Ophidiarium LNN-FMRP-USP/INeC, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
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