Two strains of roof rats as effective models for assessing new-object reaction.

ABSTRACT: Wild animals generally avoid even small and harmless novel objects and/or familiar objects moved to a novel position, which is termed "new-object reaction". Although new-object reaction appears to be a biologically important characteristic for animals, little progress has been made in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying new-object reaction. One reason might be the lack of effective experimental animals. Two strains of roof rats (Sj and Og strains) were established from wild roof rats caught in Shinjuku, Tokyo and one of the Ogasawara Islands, respectively, by a Japanese pest control company. Based on the rat caregivers' informal observations, we conducted behavioral and anatomical tests to assess the validity of Sj and Og strains for the analyses of new-object reaction. In Exper

SUBMITTER: Kiyokawa Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5402190 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature