The scent of stress: environmental challenge in the peripartum environment of mice affects emotional behaviours of the adult offspring in a sex-specific manner.

Early adverse experiences are known to influence the risk of developing psychiatric disorders later. To shed further light on the development of laboratory mice, we systematically examined the influence of a prenatal or postnatal olfactory stressor, namely unfamiliar male mouse faeces, presented to pregnant or nursing mouse dams. Maternal and offspring behaviours were then examined. Maternal behaviours relative to controls revealed changes in nest building by the pregnant dams exposed to the unfamiliar faeces. There were no differences among groups on pup retrieval or exploration by the dams. Behavioural phenotyping of male and female offspring as adults included measures of exploration, anxiety, social and depressive-like behaviours. Additionally, serum corticosterone was assessed as a marker of physiological stress response. Group differences were dependent on the sex of the adult offspring. Males raised by dams that were stressed during pregnancy presented elevated emotionality as indicated by increased numbers of faecal boluses in the open field paradigm. Consistent with the effects of prenatal stress on the males only the prenatally stressed females had higher body weights than their respective controls. Indeed, males in both experimental groups had higher circulating corticosterone levels. By contrast, female offspring of dams exposed to the olfactory stressor after parturition were more anxious in the O-maze as indicated by increased latencies in entering the exposed areas of the maze. These findings emphasize the necessity for researchers to consider the pre- and postnatal environments, even of mice with almost identical genetic backgrounds, in designing experiments and interpreting their data.

Correlations and discrepancies between serum and brain tissue levels of neurotrophins after electroconvulsive treatment in rats.

INTRODUCTION: The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) are a central part of the molecular concepts on neuroplastic changes associated with stress, anxiety and depression. An increasing number of studies uses serum BDNF levels as a potential indicator for central nervous system alterations. METHODS: To analyze the relationship between brain tissue and serum BDNF and NGF levels, we used electroconvulsive shocks (ECS), an animal model of electroconvulsive therapy, and studied the temporal profile of neurotrophin expression in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and serum. 88 male Sprague-Dawley rats received single or serial ECS treatments and were killed between 3 hours and 14 days after the last treatment. RESULTS: We found a 2.8-fold rise for BDNF (1.3-fold for NGF) in the prefrontal cortex, and a 2.2-fold rise (1.2-fold for NGF) in the hippocampus after 5 ECS sessions. The temporal expression profile and correlation analyses between tissue and serum BDNF indicate that BDNF crosses the blood-brain barrier. No such correlation was found for NGF. DISCUSSION: The time course of central and peripheral BDNF changes may significantly differ. However, we demonstrate substantial evidence that it can be justified to measure serum BDNF levels with a time delay to monitor brain tissue neurotrophin alterations.

Dopamine receptor 3 (D3) knockout mice show regular emotional behaviour.

The "Dopamine Deficiency Hypothesis" and a considerable number of recent pharmacological studies propose to thoroughly verify and improve the standard of knowledge regarding a possible role of dopamine in the pathogenesis and treatment of depression. To elucidate the potential role of D3 receptors in the development of a depressive-like phenotype, we subjected D3 receptor knockout mice to a series of selected behavioural paradigms particularly focussing on depressive-like traits. In our experimental design we exposed animals with a deficiency of the D3 receptor (D3-/-) to a standardised behavioural test battery, in which general changes of locomotion, exploration, anxiety and depressive-like characteristics (i.e. Learned Helplessness, Sucrose Consumption and Forced Swim test) can be detected. Thorough behavioural phenotyping, however, neither revealed behavioural consequences on the basal level (locomotion, exploration) nor depressive- or anxiety-like alterations. Hence, these results do not indicate an evident involvement of the D3 receptor in the development of a depression-like syndrome in mice for now. This does, however, not exclude the D3 receptor as a potential target for pharmacotherapy.

Suitability of tamoxifen-induced mutagenesis for behavioral phenotyping.

Tamoxifen-induced mutagenesis via the so-called CreER(T2) fusion enzyme is a key technology for the inducible gene knockout in the adult murine brain. However, it requires a subchronic transient treatment with high doses of the non-selective estrogen receptor antagonist tamoxifen. It has been shown earlier that acute tamoxifen treatment causes behavioral alterations, while the long-term behavioral effects of tamoxifen in mice are so far unknown. Therefore C57BL/6 male mice, a common strain used for targeted mutagenesis and behavioral analyses, were subjected to a tamoxifen treatment protocol as used for inducible mutagenesis in vivo, and analyzed for effects on general behavior (locomotion, exploration), emotional behavior (anxiety, depression) and on learning and memory after a drug-free interval period of 4 weeks. The results demonstrate that a test for depression-like behavior, i.e. the Forced Swim Test, is affected even more than 4 weeks after tamoxifen treatment. In contrast, in all other tests, tamoxifen treated mice showed unaltered behaviors, indicating that the currently established 5-day protocol of tamoxifen treatment (40 mg/kg bid) for inducible mutagenesis has no or little effects on the behavior of C57BL/6 male mice after a latency period of 4 weeks. These results are important for all studies using tamoxifen-induced mutagenesis since this protocol obviously does not evoke alterations in general behaviors such as locomotion, exploration or anxiety-like behaviors, which might confound more complex behavioral analyses, nor does it affect standard tests for learning and memory, such as Morris Water Maze, contextual and cued Fear Conditioning and T-Maze learning.

Learned helplessness: validity and reliability of depressive-like states in mice.

The learned helplessness paradigm is a depression model in which animals are exposed to unpredictable and uncontrollable stress, e.g. electroshocks, and subsequently develop coping deficits for aversive but escapable situations (J.B. Overmier, M.E. Seligman, Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding, J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 63 (1967) 28-33 ). It represents a model with good similarity to the symptoms of depression, construct, and predictive validity in rats. Despite an increased need to investigate emotional, in particular depression-like behaviors in transgenic mice, so far only a few studies have been published using the learned helplessness paradigm. One reason may be the fact that-in contrast to rats (B. Vollmayr, F.A. Henn, Learned helplessness in the rat: improvements in validity and reliability, Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. 8 (2001) 1-7)--there is no generally accepted learned helplessness protocol available for mice. This prompted us to develop a reliable helplessness procedure in C57BL/6N mice, to exclude possible artifacts, and to establish a protocol, which yields a consistent fraction of helpless mice following the shock exposure. Furthermore, we validated this protocol pharmacologically using the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine. Here, we present a mouse model with good face and predictive validity that can be used for transgenic, behavioral, and pharmacological studies.

Trading forage quality for quantity? Plant phenology and patch choice by Svalbard reindeer.

Plant phenology of Luzula heathland plots in Spitsbergen (78°N) was manipulated by adding or removing snow, which altered the time for plots (2 m×2 m; n=10) to become snow-free. A 2-week difference in snowmelt, equivalent to approximately one-sixth of the growing season, was achieved between advanced (first to be snow-free) and delayed (last to be snow-free) treatments, which influenced plant biomass and plant quality. Nitrogen content of the forage species decreased with time after snowmelt, whereas C:N ratio increased. Manipulation of snowmelt led to a shift in "phenological time", without altering these plant quality parameters as such. Early in the growing season, Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) selected the advanced plots which had been snow-free for longest, presumably because of the greater biomass of both Luzula confusa and Salix polaris, major components of reindeer diet at that time of the year. Moreover, the proportion of live Luzula leaves was highest in advanced plots, relative to both unmanipulated control and delayed plots. In contrast, plant quality, measured as nitrogen content and C:N ratio of leaves, was lowest in the preferred plots. Phenolic content did not differ among treatments, and is therefore unlikely to play a role in reindeer selection for plots with early snowmelt. Unlike in temperate regions, where selection for plant quality seems to be of major importance, selection for plant quantity might be an outcome of generally low levels of plant biomass and high forage quality during the growing season in the high Arctic. Reindeer selection for high plant biomass is likely to lead to a more favourable nitrogen and energy return than selection for high plant quality.

Social support, social stressors at work, and depressive symptoms: testing for main and moderating effects with structural equations in a three-wave longitudinal study.

This study investigated the moderating effects of social support by supervisors and colleagues relative to social stressors at work and depressive symptoms using a structural equations approach in a 3-wave longitudinal study over 1 year. The analyses were based on a randomly drawn sample (N = 543) of citizens in the area around Dresden in the former East Germany. LISREL analysis with latent moderating effects revealed a moderating effect for supervisor support. This applied only if the time lag was 8 months, but not for longer or shorter lags. Under low-support conditions depressive symptoms were increased by social stressors, whereas, contrary to expectations, social stressors reduced subsequent depressive symptoms under high-support conditions. No moderating effect for colleague support was found. Several mechanisms are discussed that may explain the results.

Longitudinal studies in organizational stress research: a review of the literature with reference to methodological issues.

Demonstrating causal relationships has been of particular importance in organizational stress research. Longitudinal studies are typically suggested to overcome problems of reversed causation and third variables (e.g., social desirability and negative affectivity). This article reviews the empirical longitudinal literature and discusses designs and statistical methods used in these studies. Forty-three longitudinal field reports on organizational stress were identified. Most of the investigations used a 2-wave panel design and a hierarchical multiple regression approach. Six studies with 3 and more waves were found. About 50% of the studies analyzed potential strain-stressor (reversed causation) relationships. In about 33% of the studies there was some evidence of reverse causation. The power of longitudinal studies to rule out third variable explanations was not realized in many studies. Procedures of how to analyze longitudinal data are suggested.