title: The effects of environmental enrichment in the chick anxiety-depression model.
abstract: As a validation step of an animal simulation, the effects of environmental enrichment were tested in the anxiety-depression model, in which socially raised chicks are placed in isolation for a 2h test period. Isolated chicks display an initial high rate of distress vocalizations, constituting the anxiety-like phase, followed by a marked decline and plateau in rates of vocalizations for the remainder of time in isolation, characterizing the depression-like phase. Four separate groups of domestic fowl chicks were group housed under enriched, impoverished (i.e., non-enriched) or a combination of the two housing conditions for six days and tested at 7d posthatch in the aforementioned isolation procedure. Rates of distress vocalizations in the anxiety-like (2-3 min) or depression-like (30-120 min) phases were not affected by housing conditions. However, chicks continuously housed in enriched environments and chicks housed in the enriched environments on days 4-6 displayed a delay in the onset of the depression-like phase. The beneficial effect of environmental enrichment on the depression-like phase is consistent with other stress paradigms and provides another step towards validating the chick anxiety-depression model as a clinical simulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, Peabody Building University, MS 38677, United States.
authors.forename: Eun Ha
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Sufka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002645:Chickens; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004777:Environment; D008297:Male; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D014828:Vocalization, Animal