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Strain differences in response to stress: Territorial urine markings, body weight, and temperature
Author(s) -
Santos William Jose,
Melige Monique,
Chakraborty Nabarun,
Meyerhoff James,
Hammamieh Rasha,
Jett Marti
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.798.24
Subject(s) - habituation , strain (injury) , urine , body weight , stress (linguistics) , rodent , medicine , endocrinology , zoology , psychology , chemistry , biology , neuroscience , ecology , linguistics , philosophy
We have developed a social‐stress (SS) mouse model using three different strains to better understand strain differences in response to stress. Retarded territorial urine marking (UM), obesity, and abnormal increments of body temperature are typical manifestations of stress in the rodent family. A comprehensive characterization of such stress responses across different mouse strains is still obscure and is addressed in the particular research scope presented here. In the present SS model, subject mice were individually housed in a small mesh box placed inside an aggressor's (AGG) cage for 6 hr/d x 10 d, food and liquid deprived, and exposed directly to the AGG 3x/d at random times. Controls (C) were simultaneously placed in a similar mesh boxes in the absence of AGG. Filter papers placed under the mesh boxes were collected at the end of the day and UMs were contoured via UV light exposure. SS mice of C57 showed significantly higher obesity and reduced UM vs. C that also gained weight; though a sign of habituation was apparent among C at the later part of 10 d. SS mice of BALB/c gained equivalent weight with C, but showed persistently reduced UM. In contrast, both C and SS of DBA lost weight over 10 d SS and showed increased UMs, suggesting a sign of hyper‐exploratory activity despite the stress. The current findings indicate that distinct strains of mice react differently to SS.