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Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats

Important factors influencing the outcome of animal experiments in preclinical research are often overlooked. In the current study, the reaction of female and male rats toward the biological sex of a human experimenter was investigated in terms of anxiety-like behaviors and physiological stress resp...

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Autores principales: Faraji, Jamshid, Ambeskovic, Mirela, Sauter, Nevyn, Toly, Jaxson, Whitten, Kera, Lopes, Nayara Antunes, Olson, David M., Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9354940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35937894
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.965500
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author Faraji, Jamshid
Ambeskovic, Mirela
Sauter, Nevyn
Toly, Jaxson
Whitten, Kera
Lopes, Nayara Antunes
Olson, David M.
Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
author_facet Faraji, Jamshid
Ambeskovic, Mirela
Sauter, Nevyn
Toly, Jaxson
Whitten, Kera
Lopes, Nayara Antunes
Olson, David M.
Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
author_sort Faraji, Jamshid
collection PubMed
description Important factors influencing the outcome of animal experiments in preclinical research are often overlooked. In the current study, the reaction of female and male rats toward the biological sex of a human experimenter was investigated in terms of anxiety-like behaviors and physiological stress responses, as measured by infrared (IR) thermography, circulating corticosterone (CORT) and oxytocin levels. Female rats displayed consistently exacerbated anxiety-related behaviors along with elevated body surface temperature during repeated exposure to male experimenters. Experimental stress further intensified thermal responses to a male experimenter, especially in female rats. The behavioral responses to a male experimenter in females were associated with higher circulating CORT and lower oxytocin levels. Similar responses were induced by a T-shirt worn by a human male. The findings suggest that psychophysiological responses of female rats to a male experimenter are influenced by both visual and olfactory cues. The results emphasize the need to not only consider sex differences in experimental animals, but also standardize and report the experimenter’s biological sex to avoid ambiguity in the generation and interpretation of results.
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spelling pubmed-93549402022-08-06 Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats Faraji, Jamshid Ambeskovic, Mirela Sauter, Nevyn Toly, Jaxson Whitten, Kera Lopes, Nayara Antunes Olson, David M. Metz, Gerlinde A. S. Front Neurosci Neuroscience Important factors influencing the outcome of animal experiments in preclinical research are often overlooked. In the current study, the reaction of female and male rats toward the biological sex of a human experimenter was investigated in terms of anxiety-like behaviors and physiological stress responses, as measured by infrared (IR) thermography, circulating corticosterone (CORT) and oxytocin levels. Female rats displayed consistently exacerbated anxiety-related behaviors along with elevated body surface temperature during repeated exposure to male experimenters. Experimental stress further intensified thermal responses to a male experimenter, especially in female rats. The behavioral responses to a male experimenter in females were associated with higher circulating CORT and lower oxytocin levels. Similar responses were induced by a T-shirt worn by a human male. The findings suggest that psychophysiological responses of female rats to a male experimenter are influenced by both visual and olfactory cues. The results emphasize the need to not only consider sex differences in experimental animals, but also standardize and report the experimenter’s biological sex to avoid ambiguity in the generation and interpretation of results. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9354940/ /pubmed/35937894 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.965500 Text en Copyright © 2022 Faraji, Ambeskovic, Sauter, Toly, Whitten, Lopes, Olson and Metz. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Faraji, Jamshid
Ambeskovic, Mirela
Sauter, Nevyn
Toly, Jaxson
Whitten, Kera
Lopes, Nayara Antunes
Olson, David M.
Metz, Gerlinde A. S.
Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title_full Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title_fullStr Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title_full_unstemmed Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title_short Sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
title_sort sex-specific stress and biobehavioral responses to human experimenters in rats
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9354940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35937894
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.965500
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