Examining the Impact of Housing Conditions on Depression-Like Responses in Rats
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Authors
Chapman, Brianna
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
depression , animal research , housing , welfare
Alternative Title
Abstract
Part of the increasing attention to improving animal welfare includes the shift to individually-ventilated cages (IVCs). There is some evidence that housing animals in IVCs is inherently stressful, which could impact the outcome of preclinical research and would therefore benefit from more in-depth study. Consequently, the purpose of my thesis is to determine if extended housing of rats in IVCs influences the development of depression-like outcomes to a greater extent than conventional, open-top cages (OTCs) and to determine if these outcomes are impacted by social housing. My hypotheses were: that IVC rats would show more depression-like responses than OTC rats and that single-housed rats would show more depression-like responses than pair-housed rats. I also expected a cage type by social housing interaction such that the differences in depression-like responding between single and pair-housed animals would be reduced in the IVC condition relative to the OTC condition. To test the rats’ depression-like behaviours, I used the forced swim test and the splash test. To test for changes in physiology related to depression, I weighed each animal’s adrenal glands post-mortem. In the splash test, as expected, I found that IVC rats took longer to begin grooming than OTC rats, and that IVC rats showed fewer grooming bouts than OTC rats. However, unexpectedly, single-housed rats showed more grooming bouts and longer grooming time than pair-housed rats. In the forced swim test, the results did not follow my predictions. Instead, IVC and single-housed rats spent less time immobile than OTC animals and pair-housed animals, respectively. However, the decreases in immobility appeared to be secondary to increases in escape-like behaviour (i.e., climbing and diving). My results indicate that IVC-housed rats did not show more depression-like outcomes than OTC rats. However, the behaviour shown may be explained by increased anxiety-like responses in the IVC rats. Overall, it appeared that the behavioural profiles displayed by IVC-housed rats and single-housed rats were indicative of greater anxiety-like behaviour as opposed to depression-like behaviour.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States