Stressful animal housing conditions and their potential effect on sympathetic neurotransmission in mice

Abstract

Although the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) plays a major role in mediating the peripheral stress response, due consideration is not usually given to the effects of prolonged stress on the SNS. The present study examined changes in neurotransmission in the SNS after exposure of mice (BALB/c) to stressful housing conditions. Focal extracellular recording of excitatory junction currents (EJCs) was used as a relative measure of neurotransmitter release from different regions of large surface areas of the mouse vas deferens. Mice were either group housed (control), isolation housed (social deprivation), group housed in a room containing rats (rat odor stress), or isolation housed in a room containing rats (concurrent stress). Social deprivation and concurrent stressors induced an increase of 30 and 335% in EJC amplitude, respectively. The success rate of recording EJCs from sets of varicosities in the concurrent stressor group was greater compared with all other groups. The present study has shown that some common animal housing conditions act as stressors and induce significant changes in sympathetic neurotransmission.

Effects of fluoxetine, tianeptine and olanzapine on unpredictable chronic mild stress-induced depression-like behavior in mice

“…For mice, the group-housed condition is preferred to the singly housing condition, as social isolation is highly stressful for mice. Thus, this housing condition should contribute to the chronic stress effects (Arbe et al, 2002;Spani et al, 2003). All the procedures described in this paper were conducted in accordance with the European Community Council directive for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (86/609/EEC) and with the approval of the Kocaeli University Medical Faculty (10/8-2009) and all the authors.…”

Vomeronasal organ ablation elicits chemosensory dysfunction and abnormal behavior in mice

“…In this study, we conducted a series of experiments to examine the effects of VNO ablation on males' olfactory recognition and discrimination of cats and rats, which are natural predators of mice (Apfelbach et al 2005;D'Arbe et al 2002;Loggi et al 1996;Malick 1975;Rylov 1985;Yang et al 2004), and on offspring and female partners by using binary tests and habituation-dishabituation tests. We also used an open field and a light/dark box to examine whether chronic VNO ablation elicites anxious behavior in male mice.…”

Influence of environmental enrichment and handling on the acute stress response in individually housed mice

“…How much impact a routine procedure will have on the acute stress response of an animal will depend not only on the nature of the procedure but also on a variety of other factors such as genetic background (Van Bogaert et al 2006), previous experience or environmental conditions (Brown & Grunberg 1995, Dahlborn et al 1996, Einstein et al 2000, D'Arbe et al 2002. In both male and female rats, cage size and group size have been found to influence the acute response of HR and MAP after a single routine procedure (Sharp et al 2002(Sharp et al , 2003a.…”