The effects of group and single housing and automated animal monitoring on urinary corticosterone levels in male C57BL/6 mice.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kamakura R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4758932 | biostudies-other | 2016 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:The natural alignment of animals into social dominance hierarchies produces adaptive, and potentially maladaptive, changes in the brain that influence health and behavior. Aggressive and submissive behaviors assumed by animals through dominance interactions engage stress-dependent neural and hormonal systems that have been shown to correspond with social rank. Here, we examined the impact of social dominance hierarchies established within cages of group-housed laboratory mice on expression of the stress peptide pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in areas of the extended amygdala comprising the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). We also quantified the impact of dominance rank on corticosterone (CORT), body weight, and behavior including rotorod and acoustic startle response. Weight-matched male C57BL/6 mice, group-housed (4/cage) starting at 3 weeks of age, were ranked as either most-dominant (Dominant), least-dominant (Submissive) or in-between rank (Intermediate) based on counts of aggressive and submissive encounters assessed at 12 weeks-old following a change in homecage conditions. We found that PACAP expression was significantly higher in the BNST, but not the CeA, of Submissive mice compared to the other two groups. CORT levels were lowest in Submissive mice and appeared to reflect a blunted response following social dominance interactions. Body weight, motor coordination, and acoustic startle were not significantly different between the groups. Together, these data reveal changes in specific neural/neuroendocrine systems that are predominant in animals of lowest social dominance rank, and implicate PACAP in brain adaptations that occur through the development of social dominance hierarchies.
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Project description:Mice are increasingly being used as models to investigate aspects of urinary dysfunction that humans with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) experience. One method used to examine voiding function is the spontaneous void spot assay. The purpose of this study was to characterize and identify animal husbandry conditions that might confound results of the spontaneous void spot assay in male C57Bl/6J mice.Mice were placed in cages lined with filter paper for 4?hr and urine was visualized with UV transillumination. Voiding parameters including urine spot number, spot size, total urine area, primary void area, corner and center voiding were quantified.Adult male mice void more frequently with advancing age and a subpopulation (5-10%) display a frequent spotting pattern at 6-9 weeks of age. Voiding was not significantly different in male mice weaned to group housing (4-6 per cage) versus single housing, and was not altered when they were used as breeders. Voiding was changed upon transferring group housed adult males to single density cages, which decreased total urine area. Repeated assays of male voiding behavior over three consecutive days increased primary void area by the third day of monitoring and revealed that voiding behavior is impacted by routine cage changes and time of day.Together these results identify housing and husbandry practices that influence male voiding behaviors in the spontaneous void spot assay and will inform voiding behavior analyses conducted with male C57Bl/6J mice.
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Project description:BackgroundLatitudinal variation in avian life histories falls along a slow-fast pace of life continuum: tropical species produce small clutches, but have a high survival probability, while in temperate species the opposite pattern is found. This study investigated whether differential investment into reproduction and survival of tropical and temperate species is paralleled by differences in the secretion of the vertebrate hormone corticosterone (CORT). Depending on circulating concentrations, CORT can both act as a metabolic (low to medium levels) and a stress hormone (high levels) and, thereby, influence reproductive decisions. Baseline and stress-induced CORT was measured across sequential stages of the breeding season in males and females of closely related taxa of stonechats (Saxicola spp) from a wide distribution area. We compared stonechats from 13 sites, representing Canary Islands, European temperate and East African tropical areas. Stonechats are highly seasonal breeders at all these sites, but vary between tropical and temperate regions with regard to reproductive investment and presumably also survival.ResultsIn accordance with life-history theory, during parental stages, post-capture (baseline) CORT was overall lower in tropical than in temperate stonechats. However, during mating stages, tropical males had elevated post-capture (baseline) CORT concentrations, which did not differ from those of temperate males. Female and male mates of a pair showed correlated levels of post-capture CORT when sampled after simulated territorial intrusions. In contrast to the hypothesis that species with low reproduction and high annual survival should be more risk-sensitive, tropical stonechats had lower stress-induced CORT concentrations than temperate stonechats. We also found relatively high post-capture (baseline) and stress-induced CORT concentrations, in slow-paced Canary Islands stonechats.ConclusionsOur data support and refine the view that baseline CORT facilitates energetically demanding activities in males and females and reflects investment into reproduction. Low parental workload was associated with lower post-capture (baseline) CORT as expected for a slow pace of life in tropical species. On a finer resolution, however, this tropical-temperate contrast did not generally hold. Post-capture (baseline) CORT was higher during mating stages in particular in tropical males, possibly to support the energetic needs of mate-guarding. Counter to predictions based on life history theory, our data do not confirm the hypothesis that long-lived tropical populations have higher stress-induced CORT concentrations than short-lived temperate populations. Instead, in the predator-rich tropical environments of African stonechats, a dampened stress response during parental stages may increase survival probabilities of young. Overall our data further support an association between life history and baseline CORT, but challenge the role of stress-induced CORT as a mediator of tropical-temperate variation in life history.
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