Corticosteroid Induction of Threat-Induced Behavioral Inhibition in Preweanling Rats

Termination of ongoing behavior and assumption of defensive postures when threatened are adaptive characteristics of vertebrates. Altricial rat pups develop these characteristics by 14 days of age. At this time, pups inhibit their ultrasonic vocalizations and freeze when threatened. This emergence o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 1993-10, Vol.107 (5), p.860-866
Main Authors: Takahashi, Lorey K, Rubin, William W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adrenalectomy
Animal
Animal behavior
Animal Defensive Behavior
Animal Vocalizations
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Arousal - physiology
Behavioral Inhibition
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Corticosterone
Corticosterone - blood
Fear - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hormones and behavior
Infants (Animal)
Male
Motor Activity - physiology
Neurology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Receptors, Steroid - physiology
Rodents
Steroids
Threat
Ultrasound
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Summary:Termination of ongoing behavior and assumption of defensive postures when threatened are adaptive characteristics of vertebrates. Altricial rat pups develop these characteristics by 14 days of age. At this time, pups inhibit their ultrasonic vocalizations and freeze when threatened. This emergence of behavioral inhibition is impaired when rats are adrenalectomized (ADX) at 10 days of age. That is, 14-day-old ADX pups exhibit deficits in freezing and continue to emit ultrasounds when confronted by an adult male rat. Studies also showed that removal of adrenal hormones does not potentiate vocalizations or render pups incapable of reducing their ultrasounds. More important, 3.0 mg/kg of corticosterone (CORT), but not lower doses, administered daily to ADX pups restored freezing, with lesser effects on ultrasound inhibition. Disrupting the developmental action of endogenous CORT appears to impair the ontogenetic expression of behavioral inhibition.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.107.5.860