title: Adrenal activity and anxiety-like behavior in fur-chewing chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera).
abstract: Due to its complexity, in combination with a lack of scientific reports, fur-chewing became one of the most challenging behavioral problems common to captive chinchillas. In the last years, the hypothesis that fur-chewing is an abnormal repetitive behavior and that stress plays a role in its development and performance has arisen. Here, we investigated whether a relationship existed between the expression and intensity of fur-chewing behavior, elevated urinary cortisol excretion and anxiety-related behaviors. Specifically, we evaluated the following parameters in behaviorally normal and fur-chewing animals of both sexes: (1) mean concentrations of urinary cortisol metabolites and (2) anxiety-like behavior in an elevated plus-maze test. Urinary cortisol metabolites were higher only in females that expressed the most severe form of the fur-chewing behavior (P≤0.05). Likewise, only fur-chewing females exhibited increased (P≤0.05) anxiety-like behaviors associated with the elevated plus-maze test. Overall, these data provided additional evidence to support the concept that fur-chewing is a manifestation of physiological stress in chinchilla, and that a female sex bias exists in the development of this abnormal behavior.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Fisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina. mponzio@mater.fcm.unc.edu.ar
authors.forename: Marina F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ponzio
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Monfort
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Busso
authors.forename: Valeria P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Carlini
authors.forename: Rubén D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiol de Cuneo
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002682:Chinchilla / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D018782:Maze Learning; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone