title: A preliminary study for identifying olfactory markers of fear in the rat.
abstract: In stressful situations, many animals release alarm pheromones to warn conspecifics of impending danger. The authors sought to establish experimental conditions for a larger study aimed at identifying alarm pheromones emitted by the rat. They placed rats in a specially designed chamber and exposed them to aversive tactile, visual and acoustic stimuli over the course of a few days. The researchers observed rats' behavior and analyzed air samples taken from their immediate environment under the following conditions: (i) when rats were unstressed; (ii) immediately after rats were exposed to aversive stimuli; and (iii) when rats were left alone in the chamber after being conditioned to fear imminent aversive stimuli. Stressed rats emitted several substances that are known to function as alarm pheromones in insects. When previously unstressed control rats were exposed to these same substances, they had a distinct behavioral fear response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland. rohauser@amg.gda.pl
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marczak
authors.forename: Bartosz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karaszewski
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wiergowski
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaliszan
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Penkowski
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kernbach-Wighton
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jankowski
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Namieśnik
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D010675:Pheromones / Q000032:analysis*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010675:Pheromones