Campeau S, Nyhuis T J, Sasse S K, Day H E W, Masini C V
Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008 Sep;32(7):1277-86. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.05.014. Epub 2008 May 17.
This manuscript describes several behavioral and functional studies evaluating the capacity of ferret odors to elicit a number of acute and long-term responses in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Acute presentation elicits multiple responses, suggesting that ferret odor, likely from skin gland secretions, provides an anxiogenic-like stimulus in this strain of rats. Compared to cat odor, however, ferret odor did not produce rapid fear conditioning, a result perhaps attributable to methodological factors. Inactivation of the olfactory system and medial nucleus of the amygdala, combined with induction of the immediate-early gene c-fos, suggest the necessity of the accessory olfactory system in mediating the effects of ferret odor. Repeated exposures to ferret odor produce variable habituation of neuroendocrine and behavioral responses, perhaps indicative of the lack of control over the exact individual origin or concentration of ferret odor. Ferret odor induces rapid and long-term body weight regulation, thymic involution, adrenal hyperplasia and facilitation of the neuroendocrine response to additional challenges. It is argued that the use of such odors is exquisitely suited to investigate the brain regions coordinating anxiety-like responses and the long-term changes elicited by such stimuli.
本手稿描述了几项行为学和功能学研究，评估雪貂气味在雄性斯普拉格-道利大鼠中引发多种急性和长期反应的能力。急性呈现会引发多种反应，这表明雪貂气味（可能来自皮肤腺体分泌物）在该品系大鼠中提供了一种类似焦虑源的刺激。然而，与猫气味相比，雪貂气味并未产生快速恐惧条件反射，这一结果可能归因于方法学因素。嗅觉系统和杏仁核内侧核的失活，结合即刻早期基因c-fos的诱导，表明副嗅觉系统在介导雪貂气味的作用中是必要的。反复暴露于雪貂气味会使神经内分泌和行为反应产生不同程度的习惯化，这可能表明对雪貂气味的确切个体来源或浓度缺乏控制。雪貂气味会诱导快速和长期的体重调节、胸腺退化、肾上腺增生，并促进对额外挑战的神经内分泌反应。有人认为，使用此类气味非常适合研究协调类似焦虑反应的脑区以及此类刺激引发的长期变化。
