#37: Physiological State Influences on Avoidance Expression in Wistar-Kyoto and Sprague-Dawley Rats — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Thomas Carr
Katherin Hilson
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Sarah Terrill

#37: Physiological State Influences on Avoidance Expression in Wistar-Kyoto and Sprague-Dawley Rats

Name: John Massari
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Park Ridge, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Terrill
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE, WSGC

Name: Allyson Lengers
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: White Lake, MI
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Terrill
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE, WSGC

Name: Sarah Terrill
Department: Natural Science
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE, WSGC

Name: Caitlin Whiteman
Major: Biology
Hometown: Rockton, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Terrill
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE, WSGC

Abstract

Stress can have a profound impact on our behavior, mood, and performance. Chronic stress can even be deadly. Why do some people get more stressed than others? Behavioral inhibition (BI) may be to blame. BI is a temperament associated with increased vulnerability to stress. BI has been modeled in rats. Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats exhibit behavioral inhibition. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats serve as non-behaviorally inhibited (NBI) controls. Previous research has demonstrated that WKY rats exhibit superior avoidance performance in a signaled lever press avoidance task in which a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) signals a foot shock unconditioned stimulus (US) relative to NBI controls. In this study, we sought to determine whether a single overnight fast affects lever press avoidance responding. We tested this by examining the effect of an overnight fast in female WKY (n = 8) and SD (n = 8) rats on signaled lever press avoidance. Overnight fasting increases the level of ghrelin, a hormone associated with hunger, in the blood. Previous data in this lab suggest behavioral differences in the fed versus fasted state in the different rat strains, and that levels of inhibition may vary between the conditions. Data collected this summer suggest that an overnight fast did not impact lever press avoidance responding. However, we experienced numerous limitations including issues with our operant conditioning chambers (i.e. tone or shocks not reliably working). Thus, our findings this summer leave us with inconclusive results. Future research will continue to probe this question to better understand the biological and behavioral mechanisms through which physiological state influences behavior in WKY rats. Additionally, we performed fluorescent immunohistochemical assays on mouse tongue and rat brain tissue. This was done to count cell types expressing biomarkers of cell activity and death.

Poster file

Submit date: March 26, 2024, 6:07 p.m.