Male-produced ultrasonic vocalizations and mating patterns in female rats.

1982 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 807-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Thomas ◽  
S. Beth Howard ◽  
Ronald J. Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Mating Patterns

scholarly journals Maternal Continuous Oral Oxycodone Self-Administration Alters Pup Affective/Social Communication but not Spatial Learning or Sensory-Motor Function

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Zanni ◽  
Patrese A. Robinson-Drummer ◽  
Ashlee A. Dougher ◽  
Hannah M. Deutsch ◽  
Matthew J. DeSalle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Function ◽  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Emotional Behavior ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
List Type ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Precipitated Withdrawal ◽  
And Control

AbstractThe broad use and misuse of prescription opioids during pregnancy has resulted in a surge of infants diagnosed with Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS). Short-term irritability and neurological complications are hallmarks of NOWS, but the long-term consequences are unknown. Our newly-developed preclinical model of oxycodone self-administration enables adult female rats to readily drink oxycodone (0.06-0.12 mg/ml, ∼10/mg/kg/day) continuously before and during pregnancy and after delivery, to achieve similar liquid intake in oxycodone moms relative to water-only controls. Oxycodone levels were detected in the serum of mothers and pups. Growth parameters in dams and pups, and litter mass and size were similar to controls. Maternal behavior at postnatal day 1 (PN1) was unchanged by perinatal oxycodone consumption. Regarding the plantar thermal response, there were no differences in paw retraction latency between oxycodone and control pups at PN2 or PN14. Oxycodone and control pups had similar motor coordination, cliff avoidance, righting time, pivoting, and olfactory spatial learning from PN3 through PN13. Separation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations at PN8 revealed higher call frequency in oxycodone pups relative to controls. Finally, during naltrexone precipitated withdrawal at PN9, oxycodone males vocalized more than control pups, consistent with a previously-published withdrawal phenotype. Thus, our rat model of continuous oral oxycodone self-administration in pregnancy shows exacerbated affect/social communication in pups in a sex-dependent manner but spared cognition and locomotion. Our preclinical, high face validity NOWS model reproduces key aspects of human opioid use during pregnancy, enabling longitudinal analysis of how maternal oxycodone changes emotional behavior in the offspring.HIGHLIGHTSFemale rats self-administered oxycodone at clinically relevant doses before and during pregnancy and for the first two weeks after parturition.Both dams and pups, for the14 day postnatal experimental period, had detectable levels of oxycodone in their bloodDams drinking oxycodone only or water only did not differ in weight gain, water intake, or the number of pups born and their pups did not differ in weight throughout.Sensory and motor function in the pups was not altered, nor was hippocampal dependent spatial learning.Oxycodone exposed pups were physically dependent and displayed increased withdrawal behaviors with or without the opioid antagonist naltrexone.Pups expressed more negative affect, expressed by increased ultrasonic vocalizations, following naltrexone precipitated withdrawal or when separated from their mother.

scholarly journals Nucleus Accumbens Chemogenetic Inhibition Suppresses Amphetamine-Induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male and Female Rats

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Kate A. Lawson ◽  
Abigail Y. Flores ◽  
Rachael E. Hokenson ◽  
Christina M. Ruiz ◽  
Stephen V. Mahler
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Subjective Effects ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Designer Drugs ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male And Female Rats

Adult rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) related to their affective states, potentially providing information about their subjective experiences during behavioral neuroscience experiments. If so, USVs might provide an important link between invasive animal preclinical studies and human studies in which subjective states can be readily queried. Here, we induced USVs in male and female Long Evans rats using acute amphetamine (2 mg/kg), and asked how reversibly inhibiting nucleus accumbens neurons using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) impacts USV production. We analyzed USV characteristics using “Deepsqueak” software, and manually categorized detected calls into four previously defined subtypes. We found that systemic administration of the DREADD agonist clozapine-n-oxide, relative to vehicle in the same rats, suppressed the number of frequency-modulated and trill-containing USVs without impacting high frequency, unmodulated (flat) USVs, nor the small number of low-frequency USVs observed. Using chemogenetics, these results thus confirm that nucleus accumbens neurons are essential for production of amphetamine-induced frequency-modulated USVs. They also support the premise of further investigating the characteristics and subcategories of these calls as a window into the subjective effects of neural manipulations, with potential future clinical applications.

INFLUENCE OF NEONATAL GESTAGEN INJECTION ON THE DIFFERENTIATION OF PSYCHOSEXUALITY IN FEMALE RATS

1971 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 544-550
Author(s):  
H. Steinbeck ◽  
B. Cupceancu ◽  
M. Mehring ◽  
F. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Sexual Behaviour ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Hormonal Stimulation ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
Neonatal Injection ◽  
Norethindrone Acetate

ABSTRACT The influence of neonatal injection of gestagens with androgenic, oestrogenic, or no side activities on sexual behaviour differentiation was studied in female rats. Single injections of norethindrone acetate, ethinodiol diacetate and norethindrone oenanthate, which are steroids with inherent oestrogenic activities, suppressed the capacity to display lordosis responses in adult life after hormonal stimulation. Both norethindrone esters also caused a certain shift of psychosexuality towards masculinity. The incidence of bisexuality was, however, extremely low in all the rats. Androgenic gestagens, i. e. d.l-norgestrel and norethandrolone, did not suppress female differentiation of sexuality; there was moreover no increase in male behavioural patterns. Norhydroxyprogesterone caproate, megestrol acetate and a new synthetic progesterone derivative (clomegestone acetate), all steroids with no side activities, were without any effect on mating behaviour differentiation. Allylestrenol and medroxyprogesterone acetate suppressed the capacity to display feminine mating patterns but did not induce male behaviour. It is most likely, however, that this result is due to the administration of higher gestagen doses rather than to any side effects of either steroid.

Sensory cues that elicit ultrasonic vocalizations in female rats (Rattus norvegicus)

1991 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas R. White ◽  
Lisa C. Colona ◽  
Ronald J. Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Rattus Norvegicus ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Sensory Cues
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