Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria; Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
Physiol Behav. 2024 Dec 1;287:114694. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114694. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
Behavioural flexibility plays a major role in the way animals cope with novel situations, and physiological stress responses are adaptive and highly efficient mechanisms to cope with unpredictable events. Previous studies investigating the role of stress responses in mediating behavioural flexibility were mostly done in laboratory rodents using stressors and cognitive challenges unrelated to the ecology of the species. To better understand how stress mediates behavioural flexibility in a natural context, direct manipulations of the stress response and cognitive tests in ecologically relevant contexts are needed. To this aim, we pharmacologically blocked glucocorticoid receptors (GR) in adult Neolamprologus pulcher using a minimally invasive application of a GR antagonist. GR blockade prevents the recovery after a stressful event, which we predicted to impair behavioural flexibility. After the application of the GR antagonist, we repeatedly exposed fish to a predator and tested their behavioural flexibility using a detour task, i.e. fish had to find a new, longer route to the shelter when the shortest route was blocked. While the latencies to find the shelter were not different between treatments, GR blocked fish showed more failed attempts during the detour tasks than control fish. Furthermore, weak performance during the detour tasks was accompanied by an increase of fear related behaviours. This suggests that blocking GR changed the perception of fear and resulted in an impaired behavioural flexibility. Therefore, our results support a potential link between the capacity to recover from stressors and behavioural flexibility in N. pulcher with potential consequences for an effective and adaptive coping with changing environments.
行为灵活性在动物应对新情况的方式中起着重要作用，而生理应激反应是应对不可预测事件的适应性和高效机制。以前研究应激反应在调节行为灵活性中的作用的大多数研究都是在实验室啮齿动物中进行的，使用的应激源和认知挑战与物种的生态无关。为了更好地理解应激在自然环境中如何调节行为灵活性，需要在生态相关环境中直接操纵应激反应和认知测试。为此，我们使用一种最小侵入性的糖皮质激素受体 (GR) 拮抗剂在成年 Neolamprologus pulcher 中阻断 GR。GR 阻断阻止了应激事件后的恢复，我们预测这会损害行为灵活性。在应用 GR 拮抗剂后，我们反复将鱼暴露于捕食者，并使用绕道任务测试它们的行为灵活性，即当最短路线被阻断时，鱼必须找到一条新的、更长的路线到庇护所。虽然在处理之间找到庇护所的潜伏期没有差异，但 GR 阻断的鱼在绕道任务中比对照鱼表现出更多的失败尝试。此外，绕道任务中的表现不佳伴随着与恐惧相关的行为增加。这表明阻断 GR 改变了对恐惧的感知，并导致行为灵活性受损。因此，我们的结果支持了 N. pulcher 从应激源中恢复的能力与行为灵活性之间的潜在联系，这可能对有效和适应性地应对不断变化的环境产生影响。
