Behavioral and adrenocortical reactivity in female mice following individual or group housing.
Female "TO" strain mice were individually or group-housed for different durations (7-196 days). Behavioral reactivity was assessed for 3 days in an open field and an emergence test. Plasma samples were later collected after 5 min exposure to ethyl ether vapor; these generated "stress" corticosterone values. "Basal" corticosterone titers were obtained from similar untested and unanesthetized categories of mice. "Ether-stress" values were obtained from a limited number of mice subjected to ether anesthesia but no behavioral testing. Neither the basal nor the stress adrenocortical activities of the 2 housing categories differed. Open-field ambulation increased with longer durations of isolation, whereas for grouped mice it remained approximately constant. Individually housed mice had significantly lower defecation scores and longer emergence times than group-housed mice. In sum, little support was provided for the view that isolation is stressful.
D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D012931:Social Environment; D012934:Social Isolation; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000097:blood
D003345:Corticosterone