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PubMed2006

Social isolation rearing of rats decreases the nervous system's resistance to the psychogenic stress stimuli.

Established that one of the factors promoting development of the psycho-nervous diseases, are various kinds of social deprivation. The purpose of this study was investigation of importance of social interactions at the early period of postnatal in development of resistance of the nervous system against the psychogenic stress in the adult rats. At weaning, male albino outbred rats from three litters were housed socially (control rats) (n=12) or in isolation (n=14) for 8 weeks. Modeling the psychogenic stress was performed with the modified active avoidance response method. Judging by the speed of acquisition of the active avoidance response, i.e. the learning speed, the isolated rats significantly lagged behind the control animals. Behavioral acts in the control animals manifested with different duration and ratio, depending on the complexity of the task and situation, which should point at differential activities of the self-regulatory mechanisms, at different stages of psychogenic stress. In all situations: in acquisition-stabilization of the active avoidance responses and in conditions of the 14-days stressing, behavior of the isolated animals did not change and the horizontal standings were dominating, while the vertical standings and grooming were poorly displayed. Thus, the isolated rats are characterized with insufficient development of the self-regulatory mechanisms of the brain. Therefore, social deprivation decreases the nervous system's resistance to the stressogenic stimuli.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Effects of social isolation on brain catecholamines and forced swimming in rats: prevention by antidepressant treatment.

Post-weaning rats were housed alone or in groups for a period of 4 or 8 weeks. A portion of the animals received tricyclic antidepressant treatment, desipramine 20 mg/kg/day, during this period. Animals were then tested behaviorally by forced swimming. Isolation was associated with significantly longer durations of immobility during forced swimming. This was blocked by desipramine treatment. Desipramine treatment did not have a significant effect on the swimming durations of group-housed rats. Hindbrain and midbrain levels of catecholamines were subsequently measured and turnover rates estimated by administration of alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine or saline. Isolated rats had increased levels and decreased turnover of catecholamines. The increase in norepinephrine but not dopamine levels was blocked by desipramine, while antidepressant effects on turnover could not be tested with this method. Reduced social stimulation thus appears to be associated with reduced catecholamine release which may result in the accumulation of these transmitters in the central nervous system. Treatment with desipramine appeared essentially to compensate for reduced social stimulation, blocking isolation-induced noradrenergic neurochemical changes, while having few significant effects on control animals. This study may be helpful in furthering our understanding of how the interaction of organisms with their environment influence catecholamine systems and how antidepressants may act to restore function.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

The disruption of prepulse inhibition by social isolation in the Wistar rat: how robust is the effect?

Postweaning isolation rearing in rats is shown to have consequences for the expression of numerous behaviors. The present studies investigated isolation-induced disruptions of the prepulse inhibition (PPI) response in the Wistar rat strain, as a function of exposure of the animals to locomotor activity testing. Further, repeated testing of PPI was investigated to examine the robustness of the isolation-induced disruptions. The results indicate that experimentally naive isolation-reared animals exhibit disruptions in the PPI response that are retained in a second test 7 days later. The disruptions obtained are shown to be consistent across all pulse frequencies examined and independent of effects on startle. Exposure to activity testing, however, either before or after the measurement of PPI, abolished the isolation-induced disruption of PPI in a subsequent test. In contrast, locomotor activity testing consistently revealed a hyperactivity response in isolation-reared animals that was not influenced by the temporal occurrence of the testing. The findings are discussed relative to the interpretation of data emerging from studies where both activity testing and PPI are performed in the same animals, and in the relation to the use of PPI in isolation-reared animals as representing a nonpharmacological animal model of schizophrenia.

Acoustic Stimulation↗