Brudzynski S M, Chiu E M
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Physiol Behav. 1995 Jun;57(6):1039-44. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(95)00003-2.
It has been demonstrated that cholinergic stimulation of the anterior hypothalamic-preoptic region induces 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalization in rats. Acoustic features of the cholinergically induced vocalization did not differ from those of 22 kHz calls emitted in natural situations and, therefore, could have a behavioural significance for other conspecifics. The 22 kHz calls induced by intracerebral injection of carbachol were played back to rats and their responses were compared with responses to playback of 22 kHz calls induced by tactile stimuli and to those with background noise. Animal responses were measured by an accelerometric sensor as an average ergometric activity. The average activity count was not changed during presentation of acoustic stimuli, however, striking differences were found in animal responses immediately after discontinuation of the sound. Activity of the rats consistently and significantly decreased after presentation of 22 kHz calls induced by tactile stimuli or by injection of carbachol. Animal responses to calls induced by carbachol were indistinguishable from responses to calls induced by tactile stimuli. No significant changes in the general activity of the animals were observed after presentation of the background noise or during the sessions without stimuli. The results demonstrate that carbachol-induced ultrasonic calls have behavioural significance for other conspecifics and could serve as an alarm call in a similar way to naturally produced 22 kHz vocalization.
已经证明，对大鼠下丘脑前区-视前区进行胆碱能刺激会诱导其发出22千赫兹的超声波叫声。胆碱能诱导的叫声的声学特征与自然情况下发出的22千赫兹叫声的特征并无差异，因此，可能对其他同种个体具有行为学意义。将脑内注射卡巴胆碱诱导产生的22千赫兹叫声播放给大鼠，并将它们的反应与对触觉刺激诱导产生的22千赫兹叫声以及对背景噪声的反应进行比较。通过加速度传感器测量动物的反应，作为平均功率活动。在呈现声学刺激期间，平均活动计数没有变化，然而，在声音停止后立即发现动物反应存在显著差异。在呈现由触觉刺激或注射卡巴胆碱诱导产生的22千赫兹叫声后，大鼠的活动持续且显著下降。动物对卡巴胆碱诱导的叫声的反应与对触觉刺激诱导的叫声的反应没有区别。在呈现背景噪声后或在无刺激的时间段内，未观察到动物的一般活动有显著变化。结果表明，卡巴胆碱诱导的超声波叫声对其他同种个体具有行为学意义，并且可以像自然产生的22千赫兹叫声一样作为警报叫声。
