Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Behavioral consequences of predator stress in the rat elevated T-maze.
- Journal:
- Physiology & behavior
- Year:
- 2015
- Authors:
- Bulos, Erika Mondin et al.
Plain-English summary
In a study looking at how stress from predators affects behavior, male Wistar rats were exposed to a live cat to see how they reacted. The researchers used a special test called the elevated T-maze, which measures how animals avoid danger or try to escape. They found that after just five minutes with the cat, the rats were more likely to avoid areas they usually would explore, showing signs of anxiety, but this effect faded after about half an hour. When the rats were given a calming medication called diazepam, they showed less anxiety and were less likely to avoid the areas, suggesting that the medication helped reduce their fear response. Overall, the study showed that the anxiety triggered by the predator affected how the rats behaved in both types of tests.
Abstract
Analyses of the behavioral reactions of rodents to predators have greatly contributed to the understanding of defense-related human psychopathologies such as anxiety and panic.We here investigated the behavioral consequences of exposing male Wistar rats to a live cat using the elevated T-maze test of anxiety. This test allows the measurement of two defensive responses: inhibitory avoidance and escape, which in terms of pathology have been associated with generalized anxiety and panic disorders, respectively. For comparative reasons, the effects of exposure to the cat were also assessed in the elevated plus-maze. The results showed that a 5-min exposure to the cat selectively facilitated inhibitory avoidance acquisition, an anxiogenic effect, without affecting escape expression in the elevated T-maze. This was seen immediately but not 30 min after contact with the predator. This short-lived anxiogenic effect was also detected in the elevated plus-maze. Previous administration of the benzodiazepine anxiolytic diazepam (2 mg/kg) decreased the immediate avoidance response to the predator and the neophobic reaction to a dummy cat used as a control stimulus. The drug also impaired inhibitory avoidance acquisition in the elevated T-maze, indicating an anxiolytic effect, without affecting escape performance. The results indicate that the state of anxiety evoked during contact with the predator generalizes to both elevated plus- and T-mazes, impacting on defensive responses associated with generalized anxiety disorder.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26066720/