Conspecific aggression in the laboratory rat.

Blanchard, Robert J.; Fukunaga, Kenneth K.; Blanchard, D. Caroline; Kelley, Michael J.

doi:10.1037/h0077177

Cited by 162 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The VBS model of social stress was initially developed as a neuroethological animal model to study agonistic behavior [26]. The experiments discussed in this review replicate and extend the initial findings in the VBS model.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…The visible burrow system (VBS) was initially developed over 20 years ago as a neuroethological animal model of social stress to examine agonistic behaviors in rats [25,26]. More recently, we have used the VBS model to examine the effects of social dominance and subordination on the neuroendocrine systems regulating the stress response, reproduction and energy homeostasis [10,24,[27][28][29].…”

Section: The Visible Burrow System (Vbs) Model Of Social Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamic body weight and body composition changes in response to subordination stress

Tamashiro

Hegeman

Nguyen

et al. 2007

Physiology & Behavior

101

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Social stress is prevalent in many facets of modern society. Epidemiological data suggest that stress is linked to the development of overweight, obesity and metabolic disease. Although there are strong associations between the incidence of obesity with stress and elevated levels of hormones such as cortisol, there are limited animal models to allow investigation of the etiology of increased adiposity resulting from exposure to stress. Perhaps more importantly, an animal model that mirrors the consequences of stress in humans will provide a vehicle to develop rational clinical therapy to treat or prevent adverse outcomes from exposure to chronic social stress. In the visible burrow system (VBS) model of chronic social stress mixed gender colonies are housed for 2 week periods during which male rats of the colony quickly develop a dominance hierarchy. We found that social stress has significant effects on body weight and body composition such that subordinate rats progressively develop characteristics of obesity that occurs, in part, through neuroendocrine alterations and changes in food intake amount. Although SUB are hyperphagic following social stress they do not increase their intake of sucrose solution as CON and DOM do suggesting that they are anhedonic. Consumption of a high fat diet does not appear to affect development of a social hierarchy and appears to enhance the effect that chronic stress has on body composition. The visible burrow system (VBS) model of social stress may be a potential laboratory model for studying stress-associated metabolic disease, including the metabolic syndrome.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: The Visible Burrow System (Vbs) Model Of Social Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic body weight and body composition changes in response to subordination stress

Tamashiro

Hegeman

Nguyen

et al. 2007

Physiology & Behavior

101

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“…Rats were examined for wounds by combing the fur to uncover scars, abscesses, or scabs that corresponded with wounding (e.g. bites on the rump and neck; Blanchard et al, 1975). Wounds originally were scored into five classes: 0 = no wounds; 1 = minor tail wounds; 2 = larger tail wounds and small wounds (< 0.25 cm) on the rump; 3 = larger wounds (0.25-0.5 cm) on the body; and 4 = many extensive wounds on the body and tail Hinson et al, 2004).…”

Section: Trapping and Processing Of Wild-caught Ratsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated testosterone and reduced 5-HIAA concentrations are associated with wounding and hantavirus infection in male Norway rats

Easterbrook

Kaplan

Glass

et al. 2007

Hormones and Behavior

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Among rodents that carry hantaviruses, males are more likely to engage in aggression and to be infected than females. One mode of hantavirus transmission is via the passage of virus in saliva during wounding. The extent to which hantaviruses cause physiological changes in their rodent host that increase aggression and, therefore, virus transmission has not been fully documented. To assess whether steroid hormones and neurotransmitters contribute to the correlation between aggression and Seoul virus infection, Norway rats were trapped in Baltimore, Maryland and wounding, infection status, steroid hormones, and concentrations of neurotransmitters, including norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenol acetic acid (DOPAC), serotonin (5-HT), and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) in select brain regions were examined. Older males and males with high-grade wounds were more likely to have anti-Seoul virus IgG and viral RNA in organs than either juveniles or adult males with less severe wounds. Wounded males had higher circulating testosterone, lower hypothalamic 5-HIAA, and lower NE in the amygdala than males with no wounds. Infected males had higher concentrations of testosterone, corticosterone, NE in the hypothalamus, and DOPAC in the amygdala than uninfected males, regardless of wounding status. In the present study, wounded males that were infected with Seoul virus had elevated testosterone and reduced 5-HIAA concentrations, suggesting that these neuroendocrine mechanisms may contribute to aggression and the likelihood of transmission of hantavirus in natural populations of male Norway rats.

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“…However, recent studies of albino rat colonies have produced consistent and dramatic attacks on introduced conspecifics (Blanchard, Fukunaga, Blanchard,& Kelley, 1975;Luciano & Lore, 1975). These colonies have produced wounding and mortality rates for intruders which are very much equivalent to those shown in wild rat colonies under similar circumstances (Blanchard et al, 1975).…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

The development of intruder attack in colonies of laboratory rats

Blanchard

Takahashi

Blanchard

1977

Animal Learning & Behavior

Self Cite

124

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Most attacks by rat colony members on strange intruders are made by a single dominant male. Such dominance, and the attack behaviors themselves, develop in a relatively fixed sequence over sessions with strange intruders. The entire sequence of attack on intruders occurs earlier in the intruder sessions for older rat colonies than in those for newly established colonies: conversely, more attack is seen in colonies with prior intruder experience than for intruder-naive colonies of equivalent age. Thus both experience within the colony and specific experience with strange intruders influence the rate of development of attack on intruders by dominant colony rats.Barnett has described (1960, 1975) a profound discrepancy between the reactions of wild rat colonies and those of laboratory rat colonies 10 a conspecific intruder: the wild rats attack and injure or kill the intruder, while albino rats do not. This difference has been a major contributor to the view that laboratory rats have been so altered in the process of domestication as to make them an unrepresentative and atypical population for the study of such traits as aggression.However, recent studies of albino rat colonies have produced consistent and dramatic attacks on introduced conspecifics (Blanchard, Fukunaga, Blanchard,& Kelley, 1975;Luciano & Lore, 1975). These colonies have produced wounding and mortality rates for intruders which are very much equivalent to those shown in wild rat colonies under similar circumstances (Blanchard et al., 1975). Analysis of the specific agonistic behaviors shown in the colonies by dominant colony rats and by the intruders suggest a clear separation of attacker and defender reactions (Blanchard & Blanchard, in press). This attack and defense analysis has been applied to the reactions seen in other commonly used "aggression" tasks and has been found to fit these behaviors as weil (Blanchard & Blanchard, in press; Blanchard, Blanchard, & Takahashi, in press). Finally, the specific behaviors seen in albino rat attack and defense appear to be very similar to those seen in wild rats (Blanchard & Blanchard, in press).In view of the apparent generality of the attack and defense analysis based on albino rat colonies, it is important to determine why these colonies show attack while earlier laboratory rat colony studies did not. Since the earlier, nonattacking albino rats had had a shorter period of colony experience and fewer intruders than the colonies in which attack was seen, these factors are examined in the present experiments. These experiments also provide a systematic description of the development of intruder-attack behaviors among members of laboratory rat colonies and of the development of a dominant male for each colony. METHOD AND PROCEDURE SubjectsEach of the 16 rat colonies used consisted of three male and three female albino rats, ranging in age from 115 to J40 days with a mean of 131 days at the time of colony formation. in addition, 216 male rats of equivalent age and weight were used as intruders. All of thes...

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Conspecific aggression in the laboratory rat.

Cited by 162 publications

References 6 publications

Dynamic body weight and body composition changes in response to subordination stress

Dynamic body weight and body composition changes in response to subordination stress

Elevated testosterone and reduced 5-HIAA concentrations are associated with wounding and hantavirus infection in male Norway rats

The development of intruder attack in colonies of laboratory rats

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