Transport of Animals Between Rooms: A Little-Noted Aspect of Laboratory Procedure That May Interfere With Memory
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2011 |
Authors: |
P. J. Moura, D. V. Venkitaramani, R. Tashev, P. J. Lombroso, G. F. Xavier |
Publication/Journal: |
Behavioural Processes |
Keywords: |
memory disruption, pca, principal component analysis, rats transfer, social recognition, social recognition memory |
ISBN: |
03766357 |
Abstract:
This study investigated the effects of transporting animals from the experimental room to the animal facility in between experimental sessions, aprocedure routinely employed in experimental research, on long-term social recognition memory. By using the intruder–resident paradigm, independent groups of Wistar rats exposed to a 2-h encounter with an adult intruder were transported from the experimental room to the animal facility either 0.5 or 6 h after the encounter. The following day, residents were exposed to a second encounter with either the same or a different (unfamiliar) intruder. Resident’s social and non-social behaviors were carefully scored and subjected to Principal Component Analysis, thus allowing to parcel out variance and relatedness among these behaviors. Resident rats transported 6 h after the first encounter exhibited reduced amount of social investigation towards familiar intruders, but an increase of social investigation when exposed to a different intruder as compared to the first encounter. These effects revealed a consistent long-lasting (24 h) social recognition memory in rats. In contrast, resident rats transported 0.5 h after the first encounter did not exhibit social recognition memory. These results indicate that this common, little-noted, laboratory procedure disturbs long-term social recognition memory.