Effect of Morphine Administration on Social andNon-Social Play Behaviour in Calves

Modulation of social and depression behaviors in cholestatic and drug-dependent mice: possible role of opioid receptors

Objectives

Social behavior, a set of motivating activities critical for survival, is disturbed in cholestasis conditions and many substance abusers as well as psychiatric disorders. The documented loss of social interest in cholestatic patients may be associated with depressive symptoms. Interestingly, the endogenous opioid system is involved in the modulation of depression.

Methods in this research

, we assessed the effect of cholestasis and drug dependence on social and depression behaviors using the Three-Chamber Paradigm Test, Forced Swim Test (FST), and Tail Suspension Test (TST) as well as Open Field Test (OFT) in male NMRI mice.

Results

The results indicated that alone administration of morphine and tramadol, as well as co-administration of them, increased social motivation and novelty but decreased depression in bile duct ligated mice. Whereas, alone administration of naloxone (a µ-opioid receptor antagonist) and co-administration of it along with morphine and tramadol decreased social motivation and novelty while enhanced depression in the sham-operated and bile duct ligated mice. These administrations of drugs did not change locomotor activity compared to the control group.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it appears that (i) both cholestasis and drug dependence impaired social motivation behavior, as well as induced depression-like behavior in the bile duct, ligated mice, (ii) alone administration of morphine and tramadol as well as co-treatment of them may protect against cholestasis and drug dependence induced abnormal behaviors, (iii) µ-opioid receptors play an important role in modulation of social motivation and depression behaviors in mice.

Endogenous opiates and behavior: 2019

This paper is the forty-second consecutive installment of the annual anthological review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system, summarizing articles published during 2019 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides and receptors as well as effects of opioid/opiate agonists and antagonists. The review is subdivided into the following specific topics: molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors (1), the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia in animals (2) and humans (3), opioid-sensitive and opioid-insensitive effects of nonopioid analgesics (4), opioid peptide and receptor involvement in tolerance and dependence (5), stress and social status (6), learning and memory (7), eating and drinking (8), drug abuse and alcohol (9), sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (10), mental illness and mood (11), seizures and neurologic disorders (12), electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (13), general activity and locomotion (14), gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (15), cardiovascular responses (16), respiration and thermoregulation (17), and immunological responses (18).

Use of a Tri-Axial Accelerometer Can Reliably Detect Play Behaviour in Newborn Calves

Traditionally, the welfare assessment of farm animals has focused on health and production outcomes. Positive welfare is, however, not merely the absence of negative welfare and is an important part of a life worth living. Play behaviour is widely considered to be an indicator of positive emotions because it is a "luxury" behaviour. Direct visual observation is considered the most accurate method of behavioural analysis, but it is time consuming and laborious. There is increasing interest in the use of remote monitoring technology to quantify behaviour. We compared the data output ("motion index" (MI)) from a commercially available tri-axial accelerometer fitted to newborn dairy calves to video footage of the same calves, with a focus on play behaviour. The motion index values over 48 h were positively correlated with both the duration of play behaviour and the number of play bouts. The motion index threshold in each sample interval with the optimal sensitivity and specificity for the identification of play behaviour was MI ≥ 2.5 at a 1 min resolution (sensitivity (Se) = 98.0%; specificity (Sp) = 92.9%) and MI ≥ 24.5 at a 15 min resolution (Se = 98.0%; Sp = 89.9%), but these values consistently overestimated the overall proportion of sample intervals in which play was observed. The MI that best reflected the results obtained from visual one-zero sampling was MI ≥ 23 for 1 min intervals and MI ≥ 62 for 15 min intervals-this may therefore be the basis of a more conservative approach to the identification of play behaviour from accelerometer-generated data. Our results indicate that accelerometer-generated data can usefully indicate the amount of play behaviour shown by newborn calves for up to 48 h, providing an efficient method for identifying this important parameter in future work.