Social Isolation Induces Sex-Specific Differences in Behavior and Gut Microbiota Composition in Stress-Sensitive Rats.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social isolation (SI) is an established rat model of chronic stress. We applied this to the stress-sensitive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) strain to explore brain-to-gut interactions associated with mood. Whether SI stress-induced behavioral changes are sex-specific or if they affect the microbiome in WKY is unknown. We hypothesized individually housed (IH) animals would be more anxious than pair-housed (PH), with sex differences. Male and female rats were either IH or PH from 70 to 112 days old and behavior was assessed in modified open field (OFTmod), elevated plus maze (EPM), and novel object recognition (NOR) tests. Cecal content DNA was analyzed by shotgun metagenome sequencing.

Results

IH rats, particularly females, spent more time in the center of the OFTmod where the

SUBMITTER: Hurst C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12152274 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature