Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/86868
Title: Effects of stress or infection on rat behavior show robust reversals due to environmental disturbance
Authors: Abdulai-Saiku, Samira
Hegde, Akshaya
Vyas, Ajai
Mitra, Rupshi
Keywords: Anxiety
Fear
Issue Date: 2018
Source: Abdulai-Saiku, S., Hegde, A., Vyas, A., & Mitra, R. (2018). Effects of stress or infection on rat behavior show robust reversals due to environmental disturbance. F1000Research, 6, 2097-.
Series/Report no.: F1000Research
Abstract: Background: The behavior of animals is intricately linked to the environment; a relationship that is often studied in laboratory conditions by using environmental perturbations to study biological mechanisms underlying the behavioral change. Methods: This study pertains to two such well-studied and well-replicated perturbations, i.e., stress-induced anxiogenesis and Toxoplasma gondii -induced loss of innate fear. Here, we demonstrate that behavioral outcomes of these experimental manipulations are contingent upon the ambient quality of the wider environment where animal facilities are situated. Results: During late 2014 and early 2015, a building construction project started adjacent to our animal facility. During this phase, we observed that maternal separation stress caused anxiolysis, rather than historically observed anxiogenesis, in laboratory rats. We also found that Toxoplasma gondii infection caused an increase, rather than historically observed decrease, in innate aversion to predator odors in rats. Conclusion: These observations suggest that effects of stress and Toxoplasma gondii are dependent on variables in the environment that often go unreported in the published literature.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/86868
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45333
ISSN: 2046-1402
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.13171.2
Schools: School of Biological Sciences 
Rights: © 2018 Abdulai-Saiku S et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Data associated with the article are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero "No rights reserved" data waiver (CC0 1.0 Public domain dedication).
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:SBS Journal Articles

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