Effects of long-term individual housing of middle-aged female Octodon degus on spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task.
Front Behav Neurosci
; 17: 1221090, 2023.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37600762
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Prolonged social isolation is a form of passive chronic stress that has consequences on human and animal behavior. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the long-term isolation would precipitate age-related changes in anxiety and spatial learning and memory in degus.Methods:
We investigated the effects of long-term social isolation on anxiety levels in the light-dark test, and spatial orientation abilities in the Barnes maze. Middle-aged female Octodon degus were allocated to either group-housed (3 animals per cage) or individually-housed for 5 months.Results:
Under this experimental condition, there were no significant group differences in the anxiety level tested in the light-dark test and in the motivation to escape from the Barnes maze. There were no significant differences in cortisol levels between individually- and group-housed animals. On the last acquisition training day of spatial learning, individually- housed animals had a significantly higher number of correct responses and a smaller number of reference and working memory errors than the group-housed animals. In addition, isolated animals showed a tendency for reference and working memory impairment on the retention trial, while group-housed degus showed improvement in these parameters. Discussion andconclusion:
The present study indicates that prolonged social isolation during adulthood in female degus has a dual effect on spatial orientation. Specifically, it results in a significant improvement in acquisition skills but a slight impairment in memory retention. The obtained cognitive changes were not accompanied by modification in anxiety and cortisol levels.
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MEDLINE
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En
Ano de publicação:
2023
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Article