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Enrico Alleva - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Not all stressors are equal: early Social Enrichment favors resilience to Social but not physical stress in male mice.
Hormones and behavior, 2013Co-Authors: Igor Branchi, Ivana D'andrea, Sara Santarelli, Enrico AllevaAbstract:Abstract Early experiences profoundly affect the adult coping response to stress and, consequently, adult vulnerability to psychopathologies triggered by stressing conditions, such as major depression. Though studies in animal models have demonstrated that individuals reared in different conditions are differently vulnerable to a stressor of a specific quality, no information is available as to whether such vulnerability differs when facing stressors of different qualities. To this purpose, we reared C57BL/6 male mice either in standard laboratory rearing condition (SN) or in Communal Nest (CN) condition, the latter consisting of a single nest where three mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior until weaning. We scored the amount of interactions with the mother and with peers and found that CN is a form of Social Enrichment because both these components are significantly increased. At adulthood, we exposed SN and CN mice, for 4 weeks, to either a physical (forced swim) or a Social stress (Social instability). Immediately before, at week 1 and at week 4 of the stress procedure, corticosterone levels and the hedonic profile were measured. The results show that CN mice are more resilient to Social stress than SN mice since they displayed no anhedonia and lower corticosterone levels. By contrast, both experimental groups were similarly vulnerable to physical stress. Overall, our results show that, in male mice, the adult vulnerability to stress changes according to the quality of the stressor, as a function of early experiences. In addition, the stressor to which CN mice are resilient is qualitatively similar to the stimuli they have experienced early on, both concerning the Social domain.
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Early Social Enrichment provided by communal nest increases resilience to depression-like behavior more in female than in male mice.
Behavioural brain research, 2010Co-Authors: Ivana D'andrea, Enrico Alleva, Fiorenza Gracci, Igor BranchiAbstract:Abstract Early experiences produce persistent changes in behavior and brain function. Being reared in a communal nest (CN), consisting of a single nest where three mouse mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior from birth to weaning, provides an highly stimulating Social environment to the developing pup since both mother–offspring and peer-to-peer interactions are markedly increased. Here we show that being reared in a CN affects adult behavior of CD-1 mice in a gender-dependent fashion, with reduced depression-like responses in females and increased anxiety-like behavior in males. In particular, CN females showed higher sucrose preference at baseline condition, drinking more sweet solution compared to female mice reared in a standard laboratory condition (SN). In the isolation test, both SN and CN females showed a reduction in sucrose preference after exposure to isolation stress. However, after 24 h, only CN females significantly recovered. Finally, in the forced swim test, compared to SN, CN females spent longer time floating, a behavioral response that in the CN model has been inversely associated with display of endophenotypes of depression. With regard to the emotional response, CN males displayed an increased anxiety-like behavior in comparison to SN, spending less time in the open arms and displaying reduced head-dippings in the elevated plus-maze test. No difference was found in females. Overall, our findings show that gender and early experiences interact in modulating adult behavior. In particular, we show that early experiences modified developmental trajectories shaping adult endophenotypes of depression more markedly in females than in males.
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Consistent behavioral phenotype differences between inbred mouse strains in the IntelliCage
Genes brain and behavior, 2010Co-Authors: S. Krackow, Enrico Alleva, Igor Branchi, Francesca Cirulli, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alina Codita, Abdul H. Mohammed, A. Reichelt, Antje Willuweit, Vootele VoikarAbstract:The between-laboratory effects on behavioral phenotypes and spatial learning performance of three strains of laboratory mice known for divergent behavioral phenotypes were evaluated in a fully balanced and synchronized study using a completely automated behavioral phenotyping device (IntelliCage). Activity pattern and spatial conditioning performance differed consistently between strains, i.e. exhibited no interaction with the between-laboratory factor, whereas the gross laboratory effect showed up significantly in the majority of measures. It is argued that overall differences between laboratories may not realistically be preventable, as subtle differences in animal housing and treatment will not be controllable, in practice. However, consistency of strain (or treatment) effects appears to be far more important in behavioral and brain sciences than the absolute overall level of such measures. In this respect, basic behavioral and learning measures proved to be highly consistent in the IntelliCage, therefore providing a valid basis for meaningful research hypothesis testing. Also, potential heterogeneity of behavioral status because of environmental and Social Enrichment has no detectable negative effect on the consistency of strain effects. We suggest that the absence of human interference during behavioral testing is the most prominent advantage of the IntelliCage and suspect that this is likely responsible for the between-laboratory consistency of findings, although we are aware that this ultimately needs direct testing.
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Early life influences on emotional reactivity: evidence that Social Enrichment has greater effects than handling on anxiety-like behaviors, neuroendocrine responses to stress and central BDNF levels.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2010Co-Authors: Francesca Cirulli, Ivana D'andrea, Igor Branchi, Luigi Aloe, Alessandra Berry, Luca Tommaso Bonsignore, Francesca Capone, Enrico AllevaAbstract:During the early post-natal phases the brain is experience-seeking and provided by a considerable plasticity which allows a fine tuning between the external environment and the developing organism. Since the early work of Seymour Levine, an impressive amount of research has clearly shown that stressful experiences exert powerful effects on the brain and body development. These effects can last throughout the entire life span influencing brain function and increasing the risk for depression and anxiety disorders. The mechanisms underlying the effects of early stress on the developing organism have been widely studied in rodents through experimental manipulations of the post-natal environment, such as handling, which have been shown to exert important effects on the emotional phenotype and the response to stress. In the present paper we review the relevant literature and present some original data indicating that, compared to handling, which imposes an external manipulation on the mother-infant relationship, Social Enrichment, in the form of communal rearing, in mice has very profound effects on animal's emotionality and the response to stress. These effects are also accompanied by important changes in central levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The present data indicate that communal rearing has more pervasive effects than handling, strengthening previous data suggesting that it is a good animal model of reduced susceptibility to depression-like behavior. Overall, the availability of ever more sophisticated animal models represents a fundamental tool to translate basic research data into appropriate interventions for humans raised under traumatic or impoverished situations.
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Communal nesting, an early Social Enrichment, affects Social competences but not learning and memory abilities at adulthood.
Behavioural brain research, 2007Co-Authors: Ivana D'andrea, Enrico Alleva, Igor BranchiAbstract:We exposed mouse pups to an early Social Enrichment, the communal nest (CN), to study the effects of the early Social experiences on adult brain function and behavior. CN, which consists of a single nest where three mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior from birth to weaning (postnatal day 25), mimics the natural ecological niche of the mouse species. In order to better characterize the previously reported effect of CN on Social behavior and to evaluate the extent to which the effects of the CN tend to be pervasive across different behavioral competences, we carried out both a detailed analysis of home-cage Social behavior, taking into account the time of the day and absence/presence of an established Social hierarchy, and of learning and memory abilities in the water maze. Home-cage observations revealed that, when the hierarchy is established, CN mice display higher levels of Social investigation behavior, namely allogrooming and allosniffing, compared to mice reared in standard laboratory conditions (SN). However, when exposed to cage cleaning, a stimulus challenging Social hierarchy, CN mice display higher levels of offensive behavior. In the water maze test, CN mice showed a performance similar to that of SN mice. Overall, the present findings confirm that CN mice have elaborate Social competencies displaying high levels of aggressive behavior when needed to set up or defend their own territory. Furthermore, present data suggest that the early Social Enrichment specifically affect adult Social behavior but not learning and memory abilities.
Igor Branchi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Not all stressors are equal: early Social Enrichment favors resilience to Social but not physical stress in male mice.
Hormones and behavior, 2013Co-Authors: Igor Branchi, Ivana D'andrea, Sara Santarelli, Enrico AllevaAbstract:Abstract Early experiences profoundly affect the adult coping response to stress and, consequently, adult vulnerability to psychopathologies triggered by stressing conditions, such as major depression. Though studies in animal models have demonstrated that individuals reared in different conditions are differently vulnerable to a stressor of a specific quality, no information is available as to whether such vulnerability differs when facing stressors of different qualities. To this purpose, we reared C57BL/6 male mice either in standard laboratory rearing condition (SN) or in Communal Nest (CN) condition, the latter consisting of a single nest where three mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior until weaning. We scored the amount of interactions with the mother and with peers and found that CN is a form of Social Enrichment because both these components are significantly increased. At adulthood, we exposed SN and CN mice, for 4 weeks, to either a physical (forced swim) or a Social stress (Social instability). Immediately before, at week 1 and at week 4 of the stress procedure, corticosterone levels and the hedonic profile were measured. The results show that CN mice are more resilient to Social stress than SN mice since they displayed no anhedonia and lower corticosterone levels. By contrast, both experimental groups were similarly vulnerable to physical stress. Overall, our results show that, in male mice, the adult vulnerability to stress changes according to the quality of the stressor, as a function of early experiences. In addition, the stressor to which CN mice are resilient is qualitatively similar to the stimuli they have experienced early on, both concerning the Social domain.
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Early Social Enrichment provided by communal nest increases resilience to depression-like behavior more in female than in male mice.
Behavioural brain research, 2010Co-Authors: Ivana D'andrea, Enrico Alleva, Fiorenza Gracci, Igor BranchiAbstract:Abstract Early experiences produce persistent changes in behavior and brain function. Being reared in a communal nest (CN), consisting of a single nest where three mouse mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior from birth to weaning, provides an highly stimulating Social environment to the developing pup since both mother–offspring and peer-to-peer interactions are markedly increased. Here we show that being reared in a CN affects adult behavior of CD-1 mice in a gender-dependent fashion, with reduced depression-like responses in females and increased anxiety-like behavior in males. In particular, CN females showed higher sucrose preference at baseline condition, drinking more sweet solution compared to female mice reared in a standard laboratory condition (SN). In the isolation test, both SN and CN females showed a reduction in sucrose preference after exposure to isolation stress. However, after 24 h, only CN females significantly recovered. Finally, in the forced swim test, compared to SN, CN females spent longer time floating, a behavioral response that in the CN model has been inversely associated with display of endophenotypes of depression. With regard to the emotional response, CN males displayed an increased anxiety-like behavior in comparison to SN, spending less time in the open arms and displaying reduced head-dippings in the elevated plus-maze test. No difference was found in females. Overall, our findings show that gender and early experiences interact in modulating adult behavior. In particular, we show that early experiences modified developmental trajectories shaping adult endophenotypes of depression more markedly in females than in males.
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Consistent behavioral phenotype differences between inbred mouse strains in the IntelliCage
Genes brain and behavior, 2010Co-Authors: S. Krackow, Enrico Alleva, Igor Branchi, Francesca Cirulli, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alina Codita, Abdul H. Mohammed, A. Reichelt, Antje Willuweit, Vootele VoikarAbstract:The between-laboratory effects on behavioral phenotypes and spatial learning performance of three strains of laboratory mice known for divergent behavioral phenotypes were evaluated in a fully balanced and synchronized study using a completely automated behavioral phenotyping device (IntelliCage). Activity pattern and spatial conditioning performance differed consistently between strains, i.e. exhibited no interaction with the between-laboratory factor, whereas the gross laboratory effect showed up significantly in the majority of measures. It is argued that overall differences between laboratories may not realistically be preventable, as subtle differences in animal housing and treatment will not be controllable, in practice. However, consistency of strain (or treatment) effects appears to be far more important in behavioral and brain sciences than the absolute overall level of such measures. In this respect, basic behavioral and learning measures proved to be highly consistent in the IntelliCage, therefore providing a valid basis for meaningful research hypothesis testing. Also, potential heterogeneity of behavioral status because of environmental and Social Enrichment has no detectable negative effect on the consistency of strain effects. We suggest that the absence of human interference during behavioral testing is the most prominent advantage of the IntelliCage and suspect that this is likely responsible for the between-laboratory consistency of findings, although we are aware that this ultimately needs direct testing.
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Early life influences on emotional reactivity: evidence that Social Enrichment has greater effects than handling on anxiety-like behaviors, neuroendocrine responses to stress and central BDNF levels.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2010Co-Authors: Francesca Cirulli, Ivana D'andrea, Igor Branchi, Luigi Aloe, Alessandra Berry, Luca Tommaso Bonsignore, Francesca Capone, Enrico AllevaAbstract:During the early post-natal phases the brain is experience-seeking and provided by a considerable plasticity which allows a fine tuning between the external environment and the developing organism. Since the early work of Seymour Levine, an impressive amount of research has clearly shown that stressful experiences exert powerful effects on the brain and body development. These effects can last throughout the entire life span influencing brain function and increasing the risk for depression and anxiety disorders. The mechanisms underlying the effects of early stress on the developing organism have been widely studied in rodents through experimental manipulations of the post-natal environment, such as handling, which have been shown to exert important effects on the emotional phenotype and the response to stress. In the present paper we review the relevant literature and present some original data indicating that, compared to handling, which imposes an external manipulation on the mother-infant relationship, Social Enrichment, in the form of communal rearing, in mice has very profound effects on animal's emotionality and the response to stress. These effects are also accompanied by important changes in central levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The present data indicate that communal rearing has more pervasive effects than handling, strengthening previous data suggesting that it is a good animal model of reduced susceptibility to depression-like behavior. Overall, the availability of ever more sophisticated animal models represents a fundamental tool to translate basic research data into appropriate interventions for humans raised under traumatic or impoverished situations.
-
Communal nesting, an early Social Enrichment, affects Social competences but not learning and memory abilities at adulthood.
Behavioural brain research, 2007Co-Authors: Ivana D'andrea, Enrico Alleva, Igor BranchiAbstract:We exposed mouse pups to an early Social Enrichment, the communal nest (CN), to study the effects of the early Social experiences on adult brain function and behavior. CN, which consists of a single nest where three mothers keep their pups together and share care-giving behavior from birth to weaning (postnatal day 25), mimics the natural ecological niche of the mouse species. In order to better characterize the previously reported effect of CN on Social behavior and to evaluate the extent to which the effects of the CN tend to be pervasive across different behavioral competences, we carried out both a detailed analysis of home-cage Social behavior, taking into account the time of the day and absence/presence of an established Social hierarchy, and of learning and memory abilities in the water maze. Home-cage observations revealed that, when the hierarchy is established, CN mice display higher levels of Social investigation behavior, namely allogrooming and allosniffing, compared to mice reared in standard laboratory conditions (SN). However, when exposed to cage cleaning, a stimulus challenging Social hierarchy, CN mice display higher levels of offensive behavior. In the water maze test, CN mice showed a performance similar to that of SN mice. Overall, the present findings confirm that CN mice have elaborate Social competencies displaying high levels of aggressive behavior when needed to set up or defend their own territory. Furthermore, present data suggest that the early Social Enrichment specifically affect adult Social behavior but not learning and memory abilities.
Kristina Ullmann - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Social Enrichment by separated pair housing of male C57BL/6JRj mice.
Scientific reports, 2020Co-Authors: Katharina Hohlbaum, Silke Frahm, Andre Rex, Rupert Palme, Christa Thöne-reineke, Kristina UllmannAbstract:Laboratory male mice are often housed individually due to aggressive behavior or experimental requirements, though Social isolation can cause welfare issues. As a strategy to refine housing of male mice, we introduce the separated pair housing system. A perforated transparent wall divides the cage into two compartments and allows olfactory, acoustic, and visual communication between the two mice but prevents fighting and injuries. Long-term effects of separated pair housing on well-being and distress of adult male C57BL/6JRj mice were investigated and compared with both single- and group-housed mice. Behavioral analysis after eight weeks in three different housing systems revealed no differences in burrowing performance, Social interaction, anxiety, and stress hormone concentrations. However, pair-housed mice built more complex nests compared to single-housed mice and the nest position suggested that pair-housed mice preferred the close proximity to their cage mates. Moreover, pair-housed mice showed less locomotor activity compared to group- and single-housed mice. Body weight was higher in group-housed mice. All in all, no unambiguous long-term beneficial effects of pair housing on the well-being were found. However, the findings emphasized that effects of the housing systems on behavioral, physical, and biochemical parameters must be considered in the design of animal experimental studies.
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Social Enrichment by separated pair housing of male c57bl 6jrj mice
Scientific Reports, 2020Co-Authors: Katharina Hohlbaum, Silke Frahm, Andre Rex, Rupert Palme, Christa Thonereineke, Kristina UllmannAbstract:Laboratory male mice are often housed individually due to aggressive behavior or experimental requirements, though Social isolation can cause welfare issues. As a strategy to refine housing of male mice, we introduce the separated pair housing system. A perforated transparent wall divides the cage into two compartments and allows olfactory, acoustic, and visual communication between the two mice but prevents fighting and injuries. Long-term effects of separated pair housing on well-being and distress of adult male C57BL/6JRj mice were investigated and compared with both single- and group-housed mice. Behavioral analysis after eight weeks in three different housing systems revealed no differences in burrowing performance, Social interaction, anxiety, and stress hormone concentrations. However, pair-housed mice built more complex nests compared to single-housed mice and the nest position suggested that pair-housed mice preferred the close proximity to their cage mates. Moreover, pair-housed mice showed less locomotor activity compared to group- and single-housed mice. Body weight was higher in group-housed mice. All in all, no unambiguous long-term beneficial effects of pair housing on the well-being were found. However, the findings emphasized that effects of the housing systems on behavioral, physical, and biochemical parameters must be considered in the design of animal experimental studies.
Paul J. Shaw - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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sleep restores place learning to the adenylyl cyclase mutant rutabaga
Journal of Neurogenetics, 2020Co-Authors: Paul J. Shaw, Stephane Dissel, Ellen Morgan, Vincent Duong, Dorothy Chan, Bruno Van Swinderen, Troy ZarsAbstract:Sleep plays an important role in regulating plasticity. In Drosophila, the relationship between sleep and learning and memory has primarily focused on mushroom body dependent operant-learning assays such as aversive phototaxic suppression and courtship conditioning. In this study, sleep was increased in the classic mutant rutabaga (rut) and dunce (dnc) by feeding them the GABA-A agonist gaboxadol (Gab). Performance was evaluated in each mutant in response to Social Enrichment and place learning, tasks that do not require the mushroom body. Gab-induced sleep did not restore behavioral plasticity to either rut or dnc mutants following Social Enrichment. However, increased sleep restored place learning to rut mutants. These data extend the positive effects of enhanced sleep to place learning and highlight the utility of Gab for elucidating the beneficial effects of sleep on brain functioning.
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Genetic rescue of functional senescence in synaptic and behavioral plasticity
Sleep, 2014Co-Authors: Jeffrey M. Donlea, Narendrakumar Ramanan, Neal S. Silverman, Paul J. ShawAbstract:Study Objectives: Aging has been linked with decreased neural plasticity and memory formation in humans and in laboratory model species such as the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we examine plastic responses following Social experience in Drosophila as a high-throughput method to identify interventions that prevent these impairments. Patients or Participants: Wild-type and transgenic Drosophila melanogaster. Design and Interventions: Young (5-day old) or aged (20-day old) adult female Drosophila were housed in Socially enriched (n = 35-40) or isolated environments, then assayed for changes in sleep and for structural markers of synaptic terminal growth in the ventral lateral neurons (LNs) of the circadian clock. Measurements and Results: When young flies are housed in a Socially enriched environment, they exhibit synaptic elaboration within a component of the circadian circuitry, the LNVs, which is followed by increased sleep. Aged flies, however, no longer exhibit either of these plastic changes. Because of the tight correlation between neural plasticity and ensuing increases in sleep, we use sleep after Enrichment as a high-throughput marker for neural plasticity to identify interventions that prolong youthful plasticity in aged flies. To validate this strategy, we find three independent genetic manipulations that delay age-related losses in plasticity: (1) elevation of dopaminergic signaling, (2) over-expression of the transcription factor blistered (bs) in the LNVs, and (3) reduction of the Imd immune signaling pathway. These findings provide proof-of-principle evidence that measuring changes in sleep in flies after Social Enrichment may provide a highly scalable assay for the study of age-related deficits in synaptic plasticity. Conclusions: These studies demonstrate that Drosophila provides a promising model for the study of age-related loss of neural plasticity and begin to identify genes that might be manipulated to delay the onset of functional senescence.
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ERK Phosphorylation Regulates Sleep and Plasticity in Drosophila
PloS one, 2013Co-Authors: William M. Vanderheyden, Jason R. Gerstner, Anne K. Tanenhaus, Jerry C. P. Yin, Paul J. ShawAbstract:Given the relationship between sleep and plasticity, we examined the role of Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in regulating baseline sleep, and modulating the response to waking experience. Both sleep deprivation and Social Enrichment increase ERK phosphorylation in wild-type flies. The effects of both sleep deprivation and Social Enrichment on structural plasticity in the LNvs can be recapitulated by expressing an active version of ERK (UAS-ERKSEM) pan-neuronally in the adult fly using GeneSwitch (Gsw) Gsw-elav-GAL4. Conversely, disrupting ERK reduces sleep and prevents both the behavioral and structural plasticity normally induced by Social Enrichment. Finally, using transgenic flies carrying a cAMP response Element (CRE)-luciferase reporter we show that activating ERK enhances CRE-Luc activity while disrupting ERK reduces it. These data suggest that ERK phosphorylation is an important mediator in transducing waking experience into sleep.
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Use-Dependent Plasticity in Clock Neurons Regulates Sleep Need in Drosophila
Science (New York N.Y.), 2009Co-Authors: Jeffrey M. Donlea, Narendrakumar Ramanan, Paul J. ShawAbstract:Sleep is important for memory consolidation and is responsive to waking experience. Clock circuitry is uniquely positioned to coordinate interactions between processes underlying memory and sleep need. Flies increase sleep both after exposure to an enriched Social environment and after protocols that induce long-term memory. We found that flies mutant for rutabaga, period, and blistered were deficient for experience-dependent increases in sleep. Rescue of each of these genes within the ventral lateral neurons (LNVs) restores increased sleep after Social Enrichment. Social experiences that induce increased sleep were associated with an increase in the number of synaptic terminals in the LNV projections into the medulla. The number of synaptic terminals was reduced during sleep and this decline was prevented by sleep deprivation.
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Sleeping together using Social interactions to understand the role of sleep in plasticity.
Advances in genetics, 2009Co-Authors: Jeffrey M. Donlea, Paul J. ShawAbstract:Social experience alters the expression of genes related to synaptic function and plasticity, induces elaborations in the morphology of neural structures throughout the brain (Volkmar and Greenough, 1972; Greenough et al., 1978; Technau, 2007), improves cognitive and behavioral performance (Pham et al., 1999a; Toscano et al., 2006) and alters subsequent sleep (Ganguly-Fitzgerald et al., 2006). In this review, we discuss the plastic mechanisms that are induced in response to Social experience and how Social Enrichment can provide insight into the biological functions of sleep.
M Nelissen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a comparative study of the influence of Social housing conditions on the behaviour of captive tigers panthera tigris
Animal Welfare, 2005Co-Authors: M De Rouck, A C Kitchener, M NelissenAbstract:Nowadays, zoos are increasingly concerned with animal welfare as public expectations and knowledge of the needs of captive animals increases. Although many zoos try to provide all sorts of Enrichment for their big cats, the importance of Social Enrichment is not yet fully understood. This study investigates the effect of different Social housing conditions on the behaviour exhibited by captive tigers ( Panthera tigris ). It was found that paired tigers performed a wider variety of behaviours than single tigers (mostly direct Social interactions). Single animals spent significantly more time rolling, auto-playing and performing flehmen. Moreover, paired tigers without neighbouring tigers exhibited significantly less pacing than those with neighbouring tigers. These results suggest that housing tigers in pairs is preferable for the animals as they are able to perform a wider range of natural behaviours, and that the presence of neighbouring tigers causes stress and frustration, and hence more pacing.