Influence of the estrous cycle on the behavior of rats in the elevated T-maze

Gouvêia, Amauri; Santos, Ubirajara Duarte dos; Felisbino, Fabrı́cio E.; Afonseca, Taciana Lucas; Antunes, Gabriela; Morato, Sílvio

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2004.03.018

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Of note, control and CUS-exposed female mice showed greater anxiety behavior in the EZM compared with males. This sex-specific effect has been previously characterized (Dalla et al , 2010) and appears to be a product of age (Walf et al , 2009) and estrous cycle (Gouveia et al , 2004). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Adolescent Chronic Unpredictable Stress Exposure Is a Sensitive Window for Long-Term Changes in Adult Behavior in Mice

Yohn

Blendy

2017

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Adolescence is a time period in development when the brain undergoes substantial remodeling in response to the environment. To determine whether a stressful experience during adolescence affects adult behavior, we exposed adolescent male and female C57BL/6J mice to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) for 12 days starting at postnatal day 28 (PND28). We also exposed adult male and female mice to CUS for 12 days beginning at PND70 to determine whether adolescence is a sensitive time period when stress can have long-lasting effects on behavior. Regardless of when mice were exposed to stress, they were all tested exactly 30 days later in the marble burying task, elevated zero maze, acoustic startle response, and forced swim test. Adolescent stress exposure increased anxiety-like behaviors in adult male and female mice and decreased acoustic startle response in a sex-dependent manner. However, adult stress exposure did not change anxiety or response to an acoustic tone in adult male or female mice as compared with nonstressed animals. Of interest, increased depression-like behavior in the forced swim test was observed in all mice, regardless of when the stress occurred. Gene expression analysis showed significant upregulation of corticotropin releasing factor receptor 2 (CrfR2) in the amygdala of males subjected to CUS during adolescence, but not in males that experienced CUS during adulthood. In contrast, females, regardless of when they were exposed to CUS, were not affected. These data support clinical evidence suggesting that early-life stress may predispose individuals to increased anxiety and depression later in life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Adolescent Chronic Unpredictable Stress Exposure Is a Sensitive Window for Long-Term Changes in Adult Behavior in Mice

Yohn

Blendy

2017

Neuropsychopharmacol

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“…In support of this finding, Walf and colleagues showed that young female mice of reproductive age were less anxious than older senescent ones (Walf et al, 2009). Similarly, in the elevated T-maze female mice showed less anxiety than male ones (Almeida et al, 1996;Ramos et al, 2002) and female mice in dioestrous were more anxious than male mice (Gouveia et al, 2004). The same result, of females in dioestrous being more anxious was also found in the novelty suppressed feeding (Mora et al, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Sex differences in animal models of psychiatric disorders

Kokras

Dalla

2014

British J Pharmacology

359

187

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Psychiatric disorders are characterized by sex differences in their prevalence, symptomatology and treatment response. Animal models have been widely employed for the investigation of the neurobiology of such disorders and the discovery of new treatments. However, mostly male animals have been used in preclinical pharmacological studies. In this review, we highlight the need for the inclusion of both male and female animals in experimental studies aiming at gender-oriented prevention, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. We present behavioural findings on sex differences from animal models of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance-related disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism. Moreover, when available, we include studies conducted across different stages of the oestrous cycle. By inspection of the relevant literature, it is obvious that robust sex differences exist in models of all psychiatric disorders. However, many times results are conflicting, and no clear conclusion regarding the direction of sex differences and the effect of the oestrous cycle is drawn. Moreover, there is a lack of considerable amount of studies using psychiatric drugs in both male and female animals, in order to evaluate the differential response between the two sexes. Notably, while in most cases animal models successfully mimic drug response in both sexes, test parameters and treatment-sensitive behavioural indices are not always the same for male and female rodents. Thus, there is an increasing need to validate animal models for both sexes and use standard procedures across different laboratories. LINKED ARTICLESThis article is part of a themed section on Animal Models in Psychiatry Research. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10. 1111/bph.2014.171.issue-20 Abbreviations 5-HTT, 5-HT transporter; 8-OH-DPAT, 7-(Dipropylamino)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthalen-1-ol; Akt1, V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homologue 1; BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; BTBR, BTBR T + tf/J; CMS, chronic mild stress; COMT, catechol-O-methyltransferase-deficient mice; CR, conditioned response; CRF, corticotrophinreleasing factor; CS, conditioned stimulus; D1 receptor, dopamine 1 receptor; D2 receptor, dopamine 2 receptor; DISC1, disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1; Ehmt1, euchromatin histone methyltransferase 1; FBGRKO, forebrain glucocorticoid type II receptor (NR3C1) knockout; FSL, flinders sensitive rat line; FST, forced swim test; GSK3, glycogen synthase kinase 3; HAB, high anxiety-related behaviour rats; ICSS, intracranial self-stimulation; LAB, low anxiety-related behaviour rats; LI, latent inhibition; Mthfr, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase; OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder; PPI, prepulse inhibition; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder; SSRI, selective 5-HT re-uptake inhibitors; US, unconditioned stimulus; WKY, Wistar Kyoto IntroductionThe total disease burden for neuropsychiatric disorders in the European Union has been recently ...

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“…Sex differences in anxiety-like behavior also depend on the species (with monogamous, alloparenting species such as Mongolian gerbils [66] and prairie voles [26] potentially proving to be better rodent models for sex differences in anxiety than mice and rats), strain [13, 309, 358], age [110, 175], and whether female data were pooled for all estrous stages or not. In fact, estrous stage appears to be a major determinant of conflict anxiety, with diestrus females acting more anxious than males or estrus, metaestrus, and proestrus females [125, 133, 234, 261]. Also, circadian testing time, light or dark phase, light intensity, and other methodological differences, such as pretesting conditions or test order, can profoundly alter outcome variables [72, 172, 302].…”

Section: Sex Differences In Conflict Anxiety and Current Animal Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in anxiety and emotional behavior

Donner

Lowry

2013

Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol

309

168

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Research has elucidated causal links between stress exposure and the development of anxiety disorders, but due to the limited use of female or sex-comparative animal models, little is known about the mechanisms underlying sex differences in those disorders. This is despite an overwhelming wealth of evidence from the clinical literature that the prevalence of anxiety disorders is about twice as high in women compared to men, in addition to gender differences in severity and treatment efficacy. We here review human gender differences in generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety-relevant biological functions, discuss the limitations of classic conflict anxiety tests to measure naturally occurring sex differences in anxiety-like behaviors, describe sex-dependent manifestation of anxiety states after gestational, neonatal, or adolescent stressors, and present animal models of chronic anxiety states induced by acute or chronic stressors during adulthood. Potential mechanisms underlying sex differences in stress-related anxiety states include emerging evidence supporting the existence of two anatomically and functionally distinct serotonergic circuits that are related to the modulation of conflict anxiety and panic-like anxiety, respectively. We discuss how these serotonergic circuits may be controlled by reproductive steroid hormone-dependent modulation of crfr1 and crfr2 expression in the midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus and by estrous stage-dependent alterations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) neurotransmission in the periaqueductal gray, ultimately leading to sex differences in emotional behavior.

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Influence of the estrous cycle on the behavior of rats in the elevated T-maze

Cited by 48 publications

References 18 publications

Adolescent Chronic Unpredictable Stress Exposure Is a Sensitive Window for Long-Term Changes in Adult Behavior in Mice

Adolescent Chronic Unpredictable Stress Exposure Is a Sensitive Window for Long-Term Changes in Adult Behavior in Mice

Sex differences in animal models of psychiatric disorders

Sex differences in anxiety and emotional behavior

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