Department of Animal Behavior, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225009, China.
Department of Animal Behavior, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225009, China.
Behav Processes. 2022 Apr;197:104624. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104624. Epub 2022 Mar 12.
The three-chamber test has been widely used to investigate social approach/novelty preference in rodents. Most studies have used the briefly familiar and unfamiliar individuals as stimuli to examine social recognition; however, little is known about the effects of long-term familiar peers in this paradigm. In the present study, we made a slight modification to it: the first phase measured preference for a cage-mate (not a novel individual) over an identical wire cage without an individual stimulus; the later phase measured preference for a novel individual placed in the previous empty wire cage compared to the cage-mate (not the briefly familiar individual). The present study aimed to compare differences in sociability and social recognition between Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and C57BL/6J mice using this modified three-chamber test. The levels of anxiety-, depression-, and anhedonia-like behaviors were also examined in both species. We found that Brandt's voles preferred the cage-mate over the empty cage in phase 1 and showed a preference for the novel individual in phase 2. In C57BL/6J mice, males showed no preference for familiar peers in phase 1, whereas females failed to show a preference for the novel individual in phase 2, showing a sex-specific difference. Furthermore, Brandt's voles displayed higher levels of locomotor activity and sociability as well as lower levels of anxiety-, depression-, and anhedonia-like behaviors than C57BL/6J mice. Interestingly, sociability and social approach correlated with depression-like behavior, whereas social novelty preference correlated with anhedonia-like behavior. Together, these data indicate that Brandt's voles and C57BL/6J mice show significant differences in sociability, social recognition, and levels of anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Furthermore, Brandt's voles are more suitable for the study of selective social relationships.
三箱测试已广泛用于研究啮齿动物的社交接近/新奇偏好。大多数研究使用短暂熟悉和不熟悉的个体作为刺激来检查社会识别；然而，对于这种范式中长期熟悉的同伴的影响知之甚少。在本研究中，我们对其进行了轻微修改：第一阶段测量了对笼内同伴（而不是新个体）的偏好，而不是对没有个体刺激的相同金属丝笼的偏好；后来的阶段测量了与笼内同伴（而不是短暂熟悉的个体）相比，将新个体放置在先前的空金属丝笼中的偏好。本研究旨在使用这种改良的三箱测试比较 Brandt 田鼠（Lasiopodomys brandtii）和 C57BL/6J 小鼠之间的社交能力和社会识别差异。还检查了两种物种的焦虑、抑郁和快感缺失样行为的水平。我们发现 Brandt 田鼠在第一阶段更喜欢笼内同伴而不是空笼，在第二阶段表现出对新个体的偏好。在 C57BL/6J 小鼠中，雄性在第一阶段对熟悉的同伴没有偏好，而雌性在第二阶段未能表现出对新个体的偏好，表现出性别特异性差异。此外，Brandt 田鼠的运动活动和社交能力较高，焦虑、抑郁和快感缺失样行为较低。有趣的是，社交能力和社交接近与抑郁样行为相关，而社交新颖性偏好与快感缺失样行为相关。总之，这些数据表明 Brandt 田鼠和 C57BL/6J 小鼠在社交能力、社会识别以及焦虑和抑郁样行为水平方面存在显著差异。此外，Brandt 田鼠更适合研究选择性社会关系。
