Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:29:34.855Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Communication Between Rats of Experiment-Induced Stress and Its Impact on Experimental Results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

A C Beynen
A C Beynen*
Affiliation:
Department of Laboratory Animal Science, State University of Utrecht, PO Box 80.166, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Animals can communicate with one another through various types of signals. Evidence is presented that in certain experiments with rats, stress as induced by experimental treatment may give rise to the production of signals that affect non-treated animals housed nearby. Such communication between test and control animals may cause biased results and disturbed welfare of the latter. Communication of stress may be prevented by separate housing of control and test animals, but this could introduce another source of bias.

Keywords

animal welfarebiased resultscommunicationratsstress
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 153 - 159
Copyright
© 1992 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

De Laat, J M T, Van Tintelen, G, Beynen, A C 1989 Transportation of rats affects behaviour of non-transported rats in the absence of physical contact. Zeitschrift für Versuchstierkunde 32: 235–237Google ScholarPubMed
Iimori, K, Tanaka, M, Kohno, Y, Ida, Y, Nakagawa, R, Hoaki, Y, Tsuda, A, Nagasaki, N 1982 Psychological stress enhances noradrenaline turnover in specific brain regions in rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 16: 637–640CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mackay-Sim, A, Laing, D G 1981 Rats’ responses to blood and body odors of stressed and non-stressed conspecifics. Physiology and Behavior 27: 503–510CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitman, D L, Ottenweller, J E, Natelson, B H 1988 Plasma corticosterone levels during repeated presentation of two intensities of restraint stress: chronic stress and habituation. Physiology and Behavior 43: 47–55CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rottman, S J, Snowdon, C T 1972 Demonstration and analysis of an alarm pheromone in mice. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 81: 483–490CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed