title: Age-dependent effects of a chronic ultramild stress procedure on open-field behaviour in B6D2F1 female mice.
abstract: Few studies have been devoted to the interaction between age and stress. However, in view of the age-related changes in various components of the stress responses, the effects of stress may not be constant with age. In this study, we used a dimensional approach to compare open-field behaviour of B6D2F1 female mice, aged 5-6, 11-12, 17-18 and 23-24 months, exposed to a chronic ultramild stress (CUMS) procedure, solely based on nonnociceptive socioenvironmental stressors. Three behavioural dimensions emerged from the principal-component analysis; these were labelled as motor reactivity, exploratory activity, and emotional reactivity. Despite a major effect of age on the three dimensions, we could not conclude that CUMS had any influence as a function the age of the subjects. At all ages, CUMS increased motor activity and had no clear-cut effect on emotional reactivity and exploratory activity. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of the nature of the stressors on behavioural responses to novelty.
authors.affiliation: UMR 7593 CNRS, Personnalité et Conduites Adaptatives, Université Paris VI, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 47 Bd de l'Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pardon
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pérez-Diaz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joubert
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cohen-Salmon
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D003672:Defecation; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006120:Grooming / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D003345:Corticosterone