title: Respiratory patterns reflect different levels of aggressiveness and emotionality in Wild-type Groningen rats.
abstract: Respiratory patterns represent a promising physiological index for assessing emotional states in preclinical studies. Since disturbed emotional regulation may lead to forms of excessive aggressiveness, in this study we investigated the hypothesis that rats that differ largely in their level of aggressive behavior display matching alterations in respiration. Respiration was recorded in male high-aggressive (HA, n = 8) and non-aggressive (NA, n = 8) Wild-type Groningen rats using whole-body plethysmography. Subsequently, anxiety-related behaviors were evaluated in the elevated plus maze and social avoidance-approach tests. During respiratory testing, HA rats showed elevated basal respiratory rate, reduced sniffing, exaggerated tachypnoeic response to an acoustic stimulus and a larger incidence of sighs. In addition, HA rats spent less time in the open arms of the plus maze and displayed higher levels of social avoidance behavior compared to NA rats. These findings indicate that HA rats are characterized by alterations in respiratory functioning and behavior that are overall indicative of an anxiety-like phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Stress Physiology Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carnevali
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, 2308 Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nalivaiko
authors.affiliation: Stress Physiology Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy. Electronic address: andrea.sgoifo@unipr.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sgoifo
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D010993:Plethysmography, Whole Body; D051381:Rats; D012119:Respiration; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology; D059246:Tachypnea / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Aggressiveness; Anxiety; Breathing; Plethysmography; Respiratory rate; Sighing