Environmental modulation of anxiety-related neuronal activity and behaviors.
Enkephalin-deficient knockout mice, a genetic model of enhanced anxiety responses, and wild-type controls were housed in two separate facilities on the same campus using different caging systems. Stress reactivity was evaluated in these animals using a zero-maze test followed by c-Fos expression analysis in limbic brain regions. Animals with genetically or pharmacologically enhanced anxiety reared and tested in the same facility displayed similar behavioral reactivity and c-Fos induction. However, we found much stronger anxiety-related behavioral responses and higher c-Fos levels when animals were house in individually ventilated cages, independent of their genetic background.
Bilkei-Gorzó
András
A
Institute of Molecular Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53125 Bonn, Germany.
Otto
Martin
M
Zimmer
Andreas
A
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000009:adverse effects; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000009:adverse effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004745:Enkephalins / Q000172:deficiency; D004777:Environment; D008032:Limbic System / Q000378:metabolism*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D004745:Enkephalins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D000661:Amphetamine