Wang Shiyuan, Feng Dandan, Li Yinyin, Wang Ying, Sun Xiuping, Li Xianglei, Li Changlong, Chen Zhenwen, Du Xiaoyan
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China; Department of Laboratory Animal, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
Behav Brain Res. 2018 Oct 15;352:28-34. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.09.042. Epub 2017 Sep 28.
The Mongolian gerbil is a popular laboratory animal useful across many research fields. In the area of cognitive behavioral research the gerbil have been shown exhibit an anxiety-like profile on the elevated plus-maze, and they could be useful as an animal model for testing anxiolytics and antidepressants. However, there are few reports that thoroughly describe the behavioral characteristics of the gerbils in common cognitive behavior tests. In the present study, we used 7 behavior tests to detect the baseline characteristics of the gerbils and compare them to the Sprague Dawley rats. Collectively, the gerbils showed significantly different behavior characteristics in the open field test, elevated plus maze, grip strength, social interaction and fear conditioning compared to the rats. However, no difference was found between gerbils and rats in sucrose preference or Barnes maze test. The data showed that the Mongolian gerbil exhibited higher social interaction and exploratory activity, but lower conditioning fear and grip strength compared with the rats. These results indicate that the gerbil may be a sensitive animal model in behavioral brain research particularly in the areas of anxiety and fear.
蒙古沙鼠是一种在许多研究领域都很有用的常用实验动物。在认知行为研究领域，沙鼠在高架十字迷宫中表现出类似焦虑的行为模式，它们可作为测试抗焦虑药和抗抑郁药的动物模型。然而，很少有报告全面描述沙鼠在常见认知行为测试中的行为特征。在本研究中，我们使用了7种行为测试来检测沙鼠的基线特征，并将它们与斯普拉格-道利大鼠进行比较。总体而言，与大鼠相比，沙鼠在旷场试验、高架十字迷宫、握力、社交互动和恐惧条件反射中表现出明显不同的行为特征。然而，在蔗糖偏好或巴恩斯迷宫试验中，沙鼠和大鼠之间没有发现差异。数据表明，与大鼠相比，蒙古沙鼠表现出更高的社交互动和探索活动，但条件性恐惧和握力较低。这些结果表明，沙鼠可能是行为脑研究中一种敏感的动物模型，特别是在焦虑和恐惧领域。
