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Social Housing Leads to Increased Ethanol Intake in Male Mice Housed in Environmentally Enriched Cages.

ABSTRACT: An individual's social environment affects alcohol intake. However, the complex interactions between social context and alcohol intake remain understudied in preclinical models. In the present study, we sought to characterize the effects of social housing on voluntary ethanol intake in male C567BL/6J mice using a continuous access two-bottle choice model. This was accomplished using HM2 cages, which allow for the continuous monitoring of individuals' fluid intake through radiofrequency tracking while they remain undisturbed in a group setting. These cages are moderately environmentally enriched compared to standard shoebox cages. By analyzing the levels of voluntary ethanol intake between socially- and individually-housed mice in HM2 cages, we were able to parse apart the effects of environmental enrichment vs. social enrichment. We found that while intake levels were overall lower than those observed when animals are singly housed in standard shoebox cages, socially-housed males consumed significantly more ethanol compared to individually-housed mice, suggesting that while environmental enrichment attenuates ethanol intake, social enrichment may, in fact, potentiate it. This effect was not specific for alcohol, however, in that ethanol preference did not differ as a product of social context. We also found that the total number of non-consummatory channel entries were consistently higher in individually-housed mice. Additionally, a single corticotropin releasing factor receptor 1 antagonist treatment significantly decreased both water and ethanol intake in socially- and individually-housed mice up to 3 h post-treatment, though the effect on water intake was longer lasting. This treatment also significantly decreased the number of non-consummatory channel entries in individually-housed mice, but not in socially-housed mice, suggesting that increased channel visits may be a stress-related behavior. Lastly, we examined blood ethanol concentrations and FosB immunoreactivity to characterize the physiological responses to ethanol intake in socially- and individually-housed mice. The number of FosB-positive cells in the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus and nucleus accumbens shell positively correlated with average baseline ethanol intake in individually-housed mice, but not in socially-housed mice. Overall, we found that social, but not environmental, enrichment can increase ethanol intake in male C57BL/6J mice. Future studies need to test this phenomenon in female mice and assess the generalizability of this finding.

SUBMITTER: Fulenwider HD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8253159 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundConventional pig housing and management conditions are associated with gastrointestinal pathophysiology and disease susceptibility in early life. Developing new strategies to reduce both therapeutic and prophylactic antibiotic use is urgent for the sustainable swine production globally. To this end, housing methodology providing effective environmental enrichment could be a promising alternative approach to reduce antibiotic usage, as it has been proven to positively influence pig welfare and immune status and reduce susceptibility to infections. It is, however, poorly understood how this enriched housing affects systemic and local pulmonary immune status and gut microbiota colonization during early life. In the present study, we compared the effects of two housing conditions, i.e., conventional housing: (CH) versus enriched housing (EH), on immune status and gut microbiota from birth until 61 days of age.ResultsThe expected benefits of enrichment on pig welfare were confirmed as EH pigs showed more positive behaviour, less aggression behaviour during the weaning transition and better human animal relation during the post weaning phase. Regarding the pigs' immune status, EH pigs had higher values of haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume in haematological profiles and higher percentages of T cells and cytotoxic T cells in peripheral blood. Furthermore, EH pigs showed higher ex vivo secretion of IL1ß and TNF-α after lipopolysaccharide stimulation of whole blood than CH pigs. The structure of the developing faecal microbiota of CH and EH pigs significantly differed as early as day 12 with an increase in the relative abundance of several bacterial groups known to be involved in the production of short chain fatty acids, such as Prevotella_2, Christensenellaceae_R_7_group and Ruminococcus gauvreauii group. Furthermore, the main difference between both housing conditions post weaning was that on day 61, CH pigs had significantly larger inter-individual variation of ileal and colonic microbiota than EH pigs. In addition to housing, other intrinsic factors (e.g., sex) were associated with gut microbiota development and immune competence.ConclusionsIn addition to the known welfare benefits for pigs, environmentally enriched housing also positively drives important aspects of the development of the immune system and the establishment of gut microbiota in early life. Consequently, EH may contribute to increasing productivity of pigs and reducing antibiotic use.

Project description:The gastrointestinal health of poultry can be impacted by a variety of factors including their environment. As egg production moves from conventional cage housing (CC) toward cage-free housing (CF), it is important to understand this impact on intestinal health. This study was conducted to determine if housing type impacted intestinal permeability, morphology, and microbial communities in commercial hens across housing systems. Hens were randomly selected from 2 rooms of CC (n = 25) and CF (n = 25) at a commercial facility. Birds were given fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran (FITC-D) by oral gavage to measure intestinal permeability. Jejunal and ileal samples were collected to evaluate villus height, crypt depth, and their ratio. Ileal contents were collected for bacterial DNA isolation and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Serum FITC-D was similar between housing type (P = 0.709). Hens housed in the CF had increased jejunal villus height and crypt depth compared with hens from the CC (P < 0.002). Hens from the CC tended to have a greater villus height to crypt depth ratio in both the jejunum and ileum compared with the CF (P = 0.064; P = 0.091, respectively). Microbial community diversity measurements favored hens housed in the CC as ileal contents tended to have increased species richness (P = 0.059), had greater alpha diversity (P = 0.044), and had an increased number of over represented operational taxonomic units (46/64), including Romboutsia sp. (30.80%), Lactobacillus kitasatonis (17.16%), and Lactobacillus aviarius (11.15%). Correlations between microbial communities with intestinal traits identified significant association with the greatest number of correlations with FITC-D and ileal morphology. Many of these correlations identified microbial communities associated with expected traits; thus, providing limited functional data to microbial communities with limited information. The greater number of correlations of ileal morphology with ileal microbial communities suggesting local microbial communities contribute to the intestinal environment distant. In this limited study, several parameters favored hens from CC suggesting an advantage of this system for intestinal health. However, the lower intestinal health parameters observed in CF were not at levels to indicate detrimental effects.

Project description:To evaluate dietary soybean oil supplementation on production performance, egg quality, and keel bone health in laying hens. Two hundred and four laying hens at 20 weeks of age (WOA) were distributed into 12 cages containing 17 birds each. Birds were either fed a commercial diet (control group, CON) or a diet supplemented with 3% of soybean oil (SO group). Experiments lasted 17 weeks. Body weight, daily feed intake, production performance and egg quality were measured at 25, 29, 33, and 37 WOA. Birds were subsequently assessed for keel bone status by palpation, and keel was excised to measure bone length, microstructure, bone mineral density (BMD), elements contents, and the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL), collagen type II alpha 1 (COL2α1), periostin (POSTN), and sclerostin (SOST). The results showed that dietary SO supplementation did not affect production performance and egg quality (P > 0.05), but improved body weight of hens at 29 and 37 WOA (P < 0.05), and decreased daily feed intake at 33 and 37 WOA (P < 0.05). Incidence of keel bone damage (especially fracture) was higher in hens of SO group. Keel bone length in birds of SO group was significantly decreased compared to CON (P < 0.05). Keel bone of supplemented hens showed increased trabecular separation at 29 WOA and higher levels of V, Mn, Fe, Se, and Ba at 33 WOA (P < 0.05). Moreover, decreased BMD, trabecular number and thickness were observed in keel bone of laying hens receiving supplementation at 29 and 37 WOA (P < 0.05); decreased levels of Li, Ca, Hg, and TI at 33 WOA and trabecular thickness at 37 WOA (P < 0.05) were also identified. mRNA levels of SOST and RANKL and the ratio of RANKL/OPG mRNA levels were increased in birds fed a SO-supplemented diet (P < 0.05); COL2α1, OPG, and POSTN were downregulated at all sampling points (P < 0.05). Taken together, results indicate that feeding laying hens a diet supplemented with soybean oil can decrease daily feed intake and impair keel bone health but not influence production performance and egg quality.

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Social Housing Leads to Increased Ethanol Intake in Male Mice Housed in Environmentally Enriched Cages.

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