Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat
The Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat is an established depression model characterized by elevated anxiety- and depression-like behavior across a variety of tests. Here we further characterized specific behavioral and functional domains relevant to depression that are altered in WKY rats. Moreover, since early...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00109/full |
| _version_ | 1811264256104988672 |
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| author | Hyungwoo eNam Hyungwoo eNam Sarah M Clinton Nateka L Jackson Ilan A Kerman |
| author_facet | Hyungwoo eNam Hyungwoo eNam Sarah M Clinton Nateka L Jackson Ilan A Kerman |
| author_sort | Hyungwoo eNam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat is an established depression model characterized by elevated anxiety- and depression-like behavior across a variety of tests. Here we further characterized specific behavioral and functional domains relevant to depression that are altered in WKY rats. Moreover, since early-life experience potently shapes emotional behavior, we also determined whether aspects of WKYs’ phenotype were modifiable by early-life factors using neonatal handling or maternal separation. We first compared WKYs’ behavior to that of Sprague-Dawley (SD), Wistar, and Spontaneously Hypertensive (SHR) rats in: the open field test, elevated plus maze, novelty-suppressed feeding test, a social interaction test, and the forced swim test (FST). WKYs exhibited high baseline immobility in the FST and were the only strain to show increased immobility on FST Day 2 vs. Day 1 (an indicator of learned helplessness). WKYs also showed greater social avoidance, along with enlarged adrenal glands and hearts relative to other strains. We next tested whether neonatal handling or early-life maternal separation stress influenced WKYs’ behavior. Neither manipulation affected their anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors, likely due to a strong genetic underpinning of their phenotype. Our findings indicate that WKY rats are a useful model that captures specific functional domains relevant to clinical depression including: psychomotor retardation, behavioral inhibition, learned helplessness, social withdrawal, and physiological dysfunction. WKY rats appear to be resistant to early-life manipulations (i.e. neonatal handling) that are therapeutic in other strains, and may be a useful model for the development of personalized anti-depressant therapies for treatment resistant depression. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:59:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-360fd116d329417b9098c008deda56e2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:59:55Z |
| publishDate | 2014-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-360fd116d329417b9098c008deda56e22022-12-22T03:18:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532014-04-01810.3389/fnbeh.2014.0010979858Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto ratHyungwoo eNam0Hyungwoo eNam1Sarah M Clinton2Nateka L Jackson3Ilan A Kerman4University of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamThe Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat is an established depression model characterized by elevated anxiety- and depression-like behavior across a variety of tests. Here we further characterized specific behavioral and functional domains relevant to depression that are altered in WKY rats. Moreover, since early-life experience potently shapes emotional behavior, we also determined whether aspects of WKYs’ phenotype were modifiable by early-life factors using neonatal handling or maternal separation. We first compared WKYs’ behavior to that of Sprague-Dawley (SD), Wistar, and Spontaneously Hypertensive (SHR) rats in: the open field test, elevated plus maze, novelty-suppressed feeding test, a social interaction test, and the forced swim test (FST). WKYs exhibited high baseline immobility in the FST and were the only strain to show increased immobility on FST Day 2 vs. Day 1 (an indicator of learned helplessness). WKYs also showed greater social avoidance, along with enlarged adrenal glands and hearts relative to other strains. We next tested whether neonatal handling or early-life maternal separation stress influenced WKYs’ behavior. Neither manipulation affected their anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors, likely due to a strong genetic underpinning of their phenotype. Our findings indicate that WKY rats are a useful model that captures specific functional domains relevant to clinical depression including: psychomotor retardation, behavioral inhibition, learned helplessness, social withdrawal, and physiological dysfunction. WKY rats appear to be resistant to early-life manipulations (i.e. neonatal handling) that are therapeutic in other strains, and may be a useful model for the development of personalized anti-depressant therapies for treatment resistant depression.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00109/fullHeartsocial interactionmaternal separationelevated plus mazeadrenalforced swim test |
| spellingShingle | Hyungwoo eNam Hyungwoo eNam Sarah M Clinton Nateka L Jackson Ilan A Kerman Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience Heart social interaction maternal separation elevated plus maze adrenal forced swim test |
| title | Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat |
| title_full | Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat |
| title_fullStr | Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat |
| title_short | Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat |
| title_sort | learned helplessness and social avoidance in the wistar kyoto rat |
| topic | Heart social interaction maternal separation elevated plus maze adrenal forced swim test |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00109/full |
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