Rodent ultrasonic communication and its relevance for models of neuropsychiatric disorders

Abstract

Mice and rats produce and perceive calls in the ultrasonic range (so-called ultrasonic vo­calizations, USV). Various USV types can be differentiated on the basis of distinct acous­tic features. Their occurrence is dependent on stage of development, affective state and so­cial context. When separated from nest and littermates, young mice and rats emit iso­lation-induced USV, which induce mater­nal search and retrieval behaviour. Isolation-induced USV are used as an early marker of anxiety. Adult rats emit fear-induced USV in aversive situations such as predator exposure. They fulfil an alarm function and induce anxi­ety-related behaviour in conspecifics. Fear-in­duced USV are also used in the field of anxi­ety research. Finally, juvenile and adult mice and rats emit interaction-induced USV in pre­sumably appetitive situations such as rough-and-tumble play or social investigation. As they can also be elicited by drugs of abuse, they are used in the field of addiction and de­pression research. They have an affiliative communicative function and induce social approach behaviour in the recipient. Focus­ing on the communicative function of inter­action-induced USV, they serve as a measure for deficits in social behaviour and communi­cation and hence are increasingly used in an­imal models for neurodevelopmental disor­ders such as autism.

The role of dopaminergic transmission through D1-like and D2-like receptors in amphetamine-induced rat ultrasonic vocalizations

“…Higher-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by adult laboratory rats, generally termed "50-kHz calls" (for review, see Brudzynski 2009;Wohr and Schwarting 2010), are frequently associated with appetitive stimuli (Burgdorf et al 2010;Knutson et al 2002) and have been proposed to reflect positive affect (Brudzynski 2007;Burgdorf and Moskal 2009;Burgdorf et al 2010). However, 50-kHz USVs are acoustically diverse, with many identified subtypes including flat (i.e., constant frequency) calls and at least 12 types of frequency-modulated (FM) calls (Wright et al 2010).…”

The covariation of acoustic features of infant cries and autonomic state

“…Most investigations have focused on vocalization as a reflection of neurobehavioral dysregulation, often in relation to a specific disorder [30-32], contextual features (e.g., danger) [33,34], or transitory psychological state (e.g., pain) [35,36] and with little scientific interest in a potential relation between prosody and autonomic state. Consistent with the Polyvagal Theory [5], the current study assumes that the frequency modulations within vocalizations are an effective and efficient form of vocal communication with an adaptive function, capable of conveying the physiological state of the signaler to other members of its species.…”

Inhibition of 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations by dopamine receptor subtype-selective agonists and antagonists in adult rats

“…Adult rat ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are commonly divided into two main categories: calls in the the 20-30-kHz range, termed 22-kHz USVs, and calls in the 35-90-kHz range, termed 50-kHz USVs (Portfors 2007). These two categories have been proposed to indicate negative and positive affective states, respectively (Knutson et al 2002;Wöhr and Schwarting 2012). For example, 22-kHz calls are emitted during confrontation with an aggressive conspecific or feline predator and in response to painful stimuli (Sales 1972b;Cuomo et al 1988;van der Poel et al 1989;Blanchard et al 1991).…”