Emotional consequences of wheel running in mice: which is the appropriate control?
Hippocampus. 2011-02-24; 21(3): 239-242
DOI: 10.1002/hipo.20778
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1. Hippocampus. 2011 Mar;21(3):239-42. doi: 10.1002/hipo.20778.
Emotional consequences of wheel running in mice: which is the appropriate
control?
Dubreucq S(1), Marsicano G, Chaouloff F.
Author information:
(1)NeuroCentre INSERM U862, University of Bordeaux, France.
An overview of the literature on the emotional impacts of wheel running reveals
contradictory findings. Among the hypotheses underlying such a discrepancy, that
related to the different housing conditions of the controls, i.e., standard
housing without any object or housing with blocked running wheels, merits
attention. We addressed this point in C57Bl/6N mice by examining the consequences
of chronic wheel running on anxiety, context fear recall, and behavioral despair
compared either to standard control housing or to housing with blocked wheels.
Compared to standard housing, wheel running proved anxiolytic while facilitating
fear memory. On the other hand, wheel running increased behavioral despair but
influenced neither anxiety nor fear memory when compared to housing with blocked
wheels. This study suggests that investigations aimed at measuring the emotional
consequences of wheel running should take into consideration the housing
conditions of the controls to which are compared the runners.
Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/hipo.20778
PMID: 20232385 [Indexed for MEDLINE]