Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 65, Issue 2, 15 November 1998, Pages 247-254
Physiology & Behavior

Original Article
Modulation of mice anxiety in response to cat odor as a consequence of predators diet

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00126-7Get rights and content

Abstract

BERTON, F., E. VOGEL AND C. BELZUNG. Modulation of mice anxiety in response to cat odors as a consequence of predators diet. PHYSIOL BEHAV 65(2) 247–254, 1998.—The effectiveness of predator odours as repellents was assessed, and the behavioral antipredatory responses were characterized. Mice had free access to an unfamiliar runway containing different olfactory stimuli: modelling clay, or feces of a cat subjected either to a vegetarian or a carnivorous diet. The first experiment revealed various indices of a spontaneous behavioral pattern that included exploratory activity, different kinds of emotionality, and a range of active or passive defensive reactions until the appearance of absence of risk assessment strictly related to presence or absence of anxiety. These reactions differ with larger responses to feces resulting from a carnivorous as opposed to vegetarian diets. In the second experiment, chlordiazepoxide (0, 2.5, 5, or 7.5 mg/kg) had a dose-related anxiolytic effect on exploration in mice of both vegetarian and carnivorous groups but could not totally reverse the strong anxiogenic effect of carnivorous stimulus on defensive mechanisms. These differences are related to the nature of the mammalian cues. This paradigm may be a fear-motivated model of animal anxiety.

Section snippets

Subjects

Eighty hybrids males B6D2F1/JLCo mice from Iffa Credo, France, 12 weeks old at the start of the experiments were used. Prior to experimental testing, mice were housed five to a standard cage containing a constant supply of food pellets and water. Subjects always kept in the same lab room were maintained on a 12-h light–dark cycle with lights on at 2000 h and so observed in their activity period when the lights were off.

The work reported in this paper was conducted in accordance with the Guide

Experiment 1

Behavioral changes in mice movement through runway and nest are seen on Table 1. Animals in presence of carnivorous odour show increased latencies to enter the central part containing the stimulus (Kruskal (K)= 6.212; p = 0.045) and the distal part with familiar food (K = 7.577; p = 0.023) compared to mice subjected to modelling clay (central and distal parts, respectively, p = 0.048; p = 0.025). The carnivorous group is differing from the vegetarian one as well (respectively p = 0.025; p =

Discussion

Exploration of various novel environments has been extensively validated as an animal model for the study of anxiolytic and anxiogenic drug effects 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31. In the present study, mice had no previous exposure either to runway or to odour. Novelty per se was surely an effective elicitor of conflictual, such as neophilic or neophobic responses. Novelty produces a pattern of defensive reactions comparable to those induced by threatening situations 11, 35. So-called fear

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