Rat

The effects of regrouping on the growth curve of male Sprague Dawley rats

Rats are usually regrouped on a weekly basis without regard for source, so that the animals in a cage fall within a narrow weight range. ... There were no significant differences of growth rate between the rats in the stable...

Year Published: 2001Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Turcotte, N. 2001. The effects of regrouping on the growth curve of male Sprague Dawley rats. CALAS/ACSAL Symposium, 25 (Abstract).

Exploratory study to determine the preference of the Sprague-Dawley rat for a solid or a wire cage floor

A unique cage design was created to allow residency time, time of day, and frequency of use parameters to be measured when a rat was presented with choice of both [unspecified] solid flooring and wire flooring. ...The rats spent only...

Year Published: 2001Animal Type: Rat

Citation: Sherer, D., Rigel, D. F., Iverson, W. O. 2001. Exploratory study to determine the preference of the Sprague-Dawley rat for a solid or a wire cage floor. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 73 (Abstract).

Environmental enrichment reverses the effects of maternal separation onstress reactivity

Postnatal maternal separation increases hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) gene expression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and behavioral responses to stress. We report here that environmental enrichment during the peripubertal period completely reverses the effects of maternal separation on both HPA and behavioral...

Year Published: 2002Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Francis, D. D., Diorio, J., Plotsky, P. M. et al. 2002. Environmental enrichment reverses the effects of maternal separation onstress reactivity. Journal of Neuroscience 22, 7840-7843.

Early-life handling stimulation and environmental enrichment: Are some of their effects mediated by similar neural mechanisms? Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 73(1), 233-245

Neonatal (early) handling (EH) and environmental enrichment (EE) of laboratory rodents have been the two most commonly used methods of providing supplementary environmental stimulation in order to study behavioral and neurobiological plasticity. A large body of research has been generated...

Year Published: 2002Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HandlingAnimal Type: Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, Hamster, Mouse, Other Rodent, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Fernández-Teruel, A., Giménez-Llort, L., Escorihuela, R. M. et al. 2002. Early-life handling stimulation and environmental enrichment: Are some of their effects mediated by similar neural mechanisms? Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 73(1), 233-245.

Beneficial effects of enriched environment following status epilepticus inimmature rats

There was a significant increase in neurogenesis and pCREB immunostaining in the dentate gyrus in both control and SE animals exposed to the enriched environment compared to the nonenriched groups.

Year Published: 2002Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Faverjon, S., Silveira, D. C., Fu, D. D. et al. 2002. Beneficial effects of enriched environment following status epilepticus inimmature rats. Neurology 59, 1356-1364.

Effects of enriched environments with different durations and startingtimes on learning capacity during aging in rats assessed by a refinedprocedure of the Hebb-Williams maze task

These results show that aged animals still have appreciable plasticity in cognitive function, and suggest that environmental stimulation could benefit aging humans as well.

Year Published: 2002Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Kobayashi, S., Ohashi, Y., Ando, S. 2002. Effects of enriched environments with different durations and startingtimes on learning capacity during aging in rats assessed by a refinedprocedure of the Hebb-Williams maze task. Journal of Neuroscience Research 70, 340-346.

Neuronal plasticity and dendritic spines: effect of environmental enrichment on intact and postischemic rat brain

Housing rats in an enriched environment significantly increases spine density in superficial cortical layers in intact and lesioned brain.

Year Published: 2002Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Johansson, B. B., Belichenko, P. V. 2002. Neuronal plasticity and dendritic spines: effect of environmentalenrichment on intact and postischemic rat brain. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 22, 89-96.

Chocolate, an effective means of oral drug delivery in rats

We trained the animals to smell the chocolate and develop a taste for it by holding the animal and placing the chocolate into its mouth using a blunt metal applicator (in our project we used a 14-gauge oral gavage needle)....

Year Published: 2002Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Huang-Brown, K. M., Guhad, F. A. 2002. Chocolate, an effective means of oral drug delivery in rats. Lab Animal 31(10), 34-36.

Postnatal oxytocin treatment and postnatal stroking of rats reduce blood pressure in adulthood

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of postnatal oxytocin (OT) treatment and postnatal stroking on blood pressure and heart rate in adult rats. For this purpose, rats were treated subcutaneously with OT (1 mg/kg) once...

Year Published: 2002Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Holst, S., Uvnas-Moberg, K., Petersson, M. 2002. Postnatal oxytocin treatment and postnatal stroking of rats reduce blood pressure in adulthood. Autonomic Neuroscience 99(2), 85-90.

Assessing rodent well-being: Report of the 2001 RSPCA/UFAW rodent welfare group meeting

The meetings focused on techniques for assessing pain, suffering and sitress in mice and rats and monitoring the impact of procedures on their welfare.

Year Published: 2002Animal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Hawkins, P., Roughan, J., Wilson, A. et al. 2002. Assessing rodent well-being: Report of the 2001 RSPCA/UFAW rodent welfare group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 1, 3-12.