Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Mainz, Germany.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2023 Feb;145:105032. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105032. Epub 2023 Jan 4.
Laboratory mouse models offer opportunities to bridge the gap between basic neuroscience and applied stress research. Here we consider the ecological validity of social defeat stressors in mouse models of emotional vulnerability and resilience. Reports identified in PubMed from 1980 to 2020 are reviewed for the ecological validity of social defeat stressors, sex of subjects, and whether results are discussed in terms of vulnerability alone, resilience alone, or both vulnerability and resilience. Most of the 318 reviewed reports (95%) focus on males, and many reports (71%) discuss vulnerability and resilience. Limited ecological validity is associated with increased vulnerability and decreased resilience. Elements of limited ecological validity include frequent and repeated exposure to defeat stressors without opportunities to avoid or escape from unfamiliar conspecifics that are pre-screened and selected for aggressive behavior. These elements ensure defeat and may be required to induce vulnerability, but they are not representative of naturalistic conditions. Research aimed at establishing causality is needed to determine whether ecologically valid stressors build resilience in both sexes of mice.
实验室小鼠模型为弥合基础神经科学和应用压力研究之间的差距提供了机会。在这里，我们考虑了情绪脆弱性和弹性的小鼠模型中社会挫败压力源的生态有效性。从 1980 年到 2020 年，在 PubMed 中检索报告，以评估社会挫败压力源、研究对象的性别以及结果是否仅讨论脆弱性、弹性或脆弱性和弹性这三个方面的生态有效性。在 318 篇综述报告中（95%），大多数报告都集中在雄性，许多报告（71%）讨论了脆弱性和弹性。有限的生态有效性与脆弱性增加和弹性降低有关。生态有效性有限的因素包括频繁和重复地暴露于社会挫败压力源，而没有机会避免或逃离预先筛选和选择具有攻击性的陌生同种动物。这些因素确保了挫败感的发生，这可能是诱导脆弱性所必需的，但它们并不代表自然条件。需要进行旨在确定因果关系的研究，以确定生态有效压力源是否能增强雌雄小鼠的弹性。
