Non-associative defensive responses of rats to ferret odor

Predators and their odors offer an ethologically valid model to study learning processes. The present series of experiments assessed the ability of ferret odor to serve as an unconditioned stimulus and examined behavioral and endocrine changes in male Sprague–Dawley rats with single or repeated expo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiology & behavior 2006-01, Vol.87 (1), p.72-81
Main Authors: Masini, C.V., Sauer, S., White, J., Day, H.E.W., Campeau, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACTH
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone - blood
Analysis of Variance
Animal
Animal ethology
Animals
Association Learning - physiology
Avoidance Learning - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Conditioning
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Corticosterone
Corticosterone - blood
Defensive withdrawal
Escape Reaction - physiology
Ferret odor
Ferrets
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Habituation
Hormones and behavior
Learning
Learning. Memory
Male
Mammalia
Predator
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Sensitization
Smell - physiology
Stress, Psychological - blood
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Vertebrata
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Summary:Predators and their odors offer an ethologically valid model to study learning processes. The present series of experiments assessed the ability of ferret odor to serve as an unconditioned stimulus and examined behavioral and endocrine changes in male Sprague–Dawley rats with single or repeated exposures in a defensive withdrawal paradigm or in their home cages. Rats exposed to ferret odor avoided the ferret odor stimulus more, exhibited greater risk assessment and displayed higher adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone release compared with control odor exposed rats and these measures did not significantly habituate over repeated exposures. Ferret odor exposure did not show associative conditioning effects during extinction trials. However, rats that were pre-exposed to ferret odor only once, as compared to control and repeatedly exposed rats, displayed a sensitized ACTH and corticosterone response to an additional ferret odor exposure in small cages. These experiments suggest that ferret odor is a highly potent unconditioned stimulus that has long lasting effects on behavior and endocrine responses, and further suggests the independence of habituation and sensitization processes.
ISSN:0031-9384
1873-507X
DOI:10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.08.044