Two strains of roof rats as effective models for assessing new-object reaction

Wild animals generally avoid even small and harmless novel objects and/or familiar objects moved to a novel position, which is termed “new-object reaction”. Although new-object reaction appears to be a biologically important characteristic for animals, little progress has been made in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying new-object reaction. One reason might be the lack of effective experimental animals. Two strains of roof rats (Sj and Og strains) were established from wild roof rats caught in Shinjuku, Tokyo and one of the Ogasawara Islands, respectively, by a Japanese pest control company. Based on the rat caregivers’ informal observations, we conducted behavioral and anatomical tests to assess the validity of Sj and Og strains for the analyses of new-object reaction. In Experiment 1, the Sj strain showed reduced food consumption compared with the Og strain when food was provided in a novel way, suggesting that the Sj strain had a stronger avoidance of novel objects compared with the Og strain. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the basolateral complex of the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in experimental Sj rats had a larger percentage area compared with that of experimental Og rats, indicating these nuclei might be involved in the difference observed in avoidance of novel objects between the strains. Taken together, the present study suggests that Sj and Og strains are effective experimental animals for assessing new-object reaction.