The University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 2409 University Avenue, Stop A1915, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Stop A4800, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Institute of Psychiatric Research, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2019 May 1;203:81-90. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.11.012. Epub 2017 Nov 13.
Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have been established as an animal model of emotional status and are often utilized in drug abuse studies as motivational and emotional indices. Further USV functionality has been demonstrated in our recent work showing accurate identification of selectively-bred high versus low alcohol-consuming male rats ascertained exclusively from 22 to 28kHz and 50-55kHz FM USV acoustic parameters. With the hypothesis that alcohol-sensitive sex differences could be revealed through USV acoustic parameters, the present study examined USVs and alcohol consumption in male and female selectively bred high-alcohol drinking (HAD-1) rats. For the current study, we examined USV data collected during a 12-week experiment in male and female HAD-1 rats. Experimental phases included Baseline (2weeks), 4-h EtOH Access (4weeks), 24-h EtOH Access (4weeks) and Abstinence (2weeks). Findings showed that both male and female HAD-1 rats spontaneously emitted a large number of 22-28kHz and 50-55kHz FM USVs and that females drank significantly more alcohol compared to males over the entire course of the experiment. Analyses of USV acoustic characteristics (i.e. mean frequency, duration, bandwidth and power) revealed distinct sex-specific phenotypes in both 50-55kHz FM and 22-28kHz USV transmission that were modulated by ethanol exposure. Moreover, by using a linear combination of these acoustic characteristics, we were able to develop binomial logistic regression models able to discriminate between male and female HAD-1 rats with high accuracy. Together these results highlight unique emotional phenotypes in male and female HAD-1 rats that are differentially modulated by alcohol experience.
超声发声（USV）已被确立为一种情感状态的动物模型，并且经常在药物滥用研究中用作动机和情感指标。在我们最近的工作中，进一步展示了 USV 的功能，我们证明了仅从 22 到 28kHz 和 50-55kHz FM USV 声学参数就可以准确识别经过选择性繁殖的高酒精消耗雄性大鼠和低酒精消耗雄性大鼠。基于通过 USV 声学参数揭示酒精敏感性别差异的假设，本研究检查了雄性和雌性选择性繁殖的高酒精饮用（HAD-1）大鼠的 USV 和酒精消耗。在目前的研究中，我们检查了雄性和雌性 HAD-1 大鼠在为期 12 周的实验中收集的 USV 数据。实验阶段包括基线（2 周）、4 小时乙醇访问（4 周）、24 小时乙醇访问（4 周）和禁欲（2 周）。研究结果表明，雄性和雌性 HAD-1 大鼠均自发发出大量 22-28kHz 和 50-55kHz FM USV，并且在整个实验过程中，雌性大鼠的饮酒量明显多于雄性大鼠。对 USV 声学特征（即平均频率、持续时间、带宽和功率）的分析表明，在 50-55kHz FM 和 22-28kHz USV 传输中存在明显的性别特异性表型，这些表型受乙醇暴露的调节。此外，通过使用这些声学特征的线性组合，我们能够开发出能够以高精度区分雄性和雌性 HAD-1 大鼠的二项逻辑回归模型。这些结果共同强调了雄性和雌性 HAD-1 大鼠的独特情感表型，这些表型受酒精体验的差异调节。
