Núñez J F, Ferré P, Escorihuela R M, Tobeña A, Fernández-Teruel A
Department of Psychiatry, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
Physiol Behav. 1996 Nov;60(5):1355-9. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(96)00225-9.
The present studies evaluated whether or not postnatal handling (PH) (administered during the first 21 days of life) could enduringly improve coping behavior with novel and/or conflict situations. To this purpose, different groups of naive male rats (control and PH-treated) were submitted in separate experiments to 1 of the 3 following situations: an emotional reactivity test (in 4-month-old animals), an open-field session followed by endocrine measurements (in 7-month-old animals) and a punished drinking test (in 11-month-old animals). PH effects were significant in the 3 situations: handled animals were less resistant to capture or to the handling manouvers involved in the emotional reactivity test: the hormonal responses (corticosterone, prolactin, and ACTH changes) during and after an open-field stress were less intense, and PH effects lasted up to 11 months in the punished drinking test, as measured by a higher number of punished responses and less time spent freezing by handled animals during the punished period. The results are discussed in relation to previous evidence showing a long-lasting reduction of fearfulness in rats due to postnatal handling.
本研究评估了出生后处理（PH）（在出生后的前21天进行）是否能持久改善对新异和/或冲突情境的应对行为。为此，在不同实验中，将不同组的未经处理的雄性大鼠（对照组和接受PH处理组）置于以下3种情境之一：情绪反应测试（针对4月龄动物）、旷场实验后进行内分泌测量（针对7月龄动物）以及惩罚性饮水测试（针对11月龄动物）。在这3种情境中，PH均产生了显著影响：接受处理的动物在情绪反应测试中对抓捕或相关操作的抵抗性较低；旷场应激期间及之后的激素反应（皮质酮、催乳素和促肾上腺皮质激素变化）较弱，并且在惩罚性饮水测试中，PH的影响持续长达11个月，表现为接受处理的动物在惩罚期内的惩罚反应次数更多，冻结时间更短。结合先前的证据，即出生后处理会使大鼠的恐惧长期减轻，对这些结果进行了讨论。
