Rahiman Hiba Habeebu, Shafee Mohamed, Rafi Rima, Fatah Abdul, Narayanan Sareesh Naduvil
Ras Al Khaimah College of Medical Sciences, Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
Department of Physiology, Ras Al Khaimah College of Medical Sciences, Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
Ann Neurosci. 2025 Jun 7:09727531241307119. doi: 10.1177/09727531241307119.
Tactile stimulation (TS) is a positive experience that mimics maternal licking and grooming in the rat. Since the brain is extremely plastic in early life, TS during this period may modulate normal brain organisation and could enhance cognitive and/or motor abilities.
This study is designed to evaluate the possible changes in exploratory behaviour, emotionality and learning and memory following repetitive TS during periadolescent period.
Male albino Wistar rats were grouped into control and TS groups. The TS group animals were exposed to repetitive TS (15 min/session), three times/day from postnatal day 28-43. After this, exploratory behaviour, emotionality and object recognition memory were tested using open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM) and novel object recognition (NORT) tests by a computerised video-tracking system.
TS increased rearing number, rearing rate, total stretching, total stretching duration, stretching rate, mean speed and parallelism index in rats during the OF test. However, total distance travelled, global activity and total zone transitions were comparable in both groups during the OF test. TS significantly increased stretching duration and decreased entries to the closed arm during the EPM test. It slightly increased the percentage of time spent and distance travelled on the open arm in TS group. Total distance travelled, total zone transitions and global activity were comparable in both groups during the EPM test. TS mildly increased recognition index during NORT.
Tactile stimulation exposed animals demonstrated increased exploratory, risk assessment and decision-making behaviours on OF test suggesting a possible positive influence of TS on these behaviours. However, TS only mildly influenced emotionality and object recognition memory, and it did not alter general locomotor behaviours in rats.
触觉刺激（TS）是一种积极的体验，可模拟大鼠的母性舔舐和梳理行为。由于大脑在生命早期具有极强的可塑性，这一时期的触觉刺激可能会调节正常的大脑组织，并增强认知和/或运动能力。
本研究旨在评估青春期前后重复进行触觉刺激后，探索行为、情绪以及学习和记忆方面可能出现的变化。
将雄性白化Wistar大鼠分为对照组和触觉刺激组。触觉刺激组动物从出生后第28天至43天，每天接受3次重复的触觉刺激（每次15分钟）。此后，通过计算机视频跟踪系统，使用旷场试验（OF）、高架十字迷宫试验（EPM）和新物体识别试验（NORT）对探索行为、情绪和物体识别记忆进行测试。
在旷场试验中，触觉刺激增加了大鼠的直立次数、直立率、总伸展次数、总伸展持续时间、伸展率、平均速度和平行度指数。然而，在旷场试验中，两组的总行进距离、整体活动和总区域转换次数相当。在高架十字迷宫试验中，触觉刺激显著增加了伸展持续时间，并减少了进入封闭臂的次数。在高架十字迷宫试验中，触觉刺激组在开放臂上花费的时间百分比和行进距离略有增加。两组在高架十字迷宫试验中的总行进距离、总区域转换次数和整体活动相当。在新物体识别试验中，触觉刺激轻微增加了识别指数。
接受触觉刺激的动物在旷场试验中表现出探索、风险评估和决策行为增加，表明触觉刺激可能对这些行为有积极影响。然而，触觉刺激仅对情绪和物体识别记忆有轻微影响，且未改变大鼠的一般运动行为。
