Nakamura Madoka, Nomoto Kensaku, Mogi Kazutaka, Koide Tsuyoshi, Kikusui Takefumi
Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan.
Department of Ultrastructural Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi-machi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8553, Japan.
Proc Biol Sci. 2024 Dec;291(2036):20241815. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1815. Epub 2024 Dec 11.
Emotional contagion occurs in many animals, including rodents. To determine the social signals of emotional state-matching between individuals in mice, we conducted an empirical laboratory experiment using visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli. The Japanese wild-derived mouse strain MSM/Ms (MSM) was tested as observers, since our initial experiments indicated that MSM mice showed higher sensitivity to others' pain compared with the laboratory strain C57BL/6J (B6). MSM observers were shown footage of an unfamiliar B6 mouse receiving painful foot shocks via a screen. For olfactory stimuli, one of the following was presented during observation: (i) urine collected from a shocked B6 mouse, (ii) urine collected from an unshocked B6 mouse, or (iii) reverse osmosis water. Consequently, MSM mice observing the footage with urine from shocked mice demonstrated significantly higher fear-induced freezing behaviour than in the other two conditions. Regarding visual and auditory stimuli, observing the pixelated video clip was significantly associated with reduced freeze responses, whereas blocking auditory cues did not affect the duration of freezing. These results provide clear-cut evidence that multiple cues, including olfactory and visual information, are sufficient social signals for emotional contagion in mice.
情绪感染发生在包括啮齿动物在内的许多动物身上。为了确定小鼠个体之间情绪状态匹配的社会信号,我们使用视觉、嗅觉和听觉刺激进行了一项实证实验室实验。日本野生来源的小鼠品系MSM/Ms(MSM)被用作观察者,因为我们最初的实验表明,与实验室品系C57BL/6J(B6)相比,MSM小鼠对他人的疼痛表现出更高的敏感性。通过屏幕向MSM观察者展示一只陌生的B6小鼠遭受足部电击疼痛的视频片段。对于嗅觉刺激,在观察过程中呈现以下之一:(i)从遭受电击的B6小鼠收集的尿液,(ii)从未遭受电击的B6小鼠收集的尿液,或(iii)反渗透水。因此,观察带有遭受电击小鼠尿液视频的MSM小鼠表现出的恐惧诱导的僵住行为明显高于其他两种情况。关于视觉和听觉刺激,观察像素化视频片段与僵住反应减少显著相关,而阻断听觉线索并不影响僵住的持续时间。这些结果提供了明确的证据,表明包括嗅觉和视觉信息在内的多种线索是小鼠情绪感染的充分社会信号。