Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Effects of room and cage familiarity on locomotor activity measures in rats.

R Galani1, E Duconseille, O Bildstein

  • 1Laboratoire de Neurosciences Comportementales et Cognitives, UMR 7521 ULP/CNRS, IFR 37, 12 rue Goethe, 67000, Strasbourg, France. rodrigue.galani@psycho-ulp.u-strasbg.fr

Physiology & Behavior
|September 21, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Barite precipitation in porous media: Impact of pore structure and surface charge on ionic diffusion.

Journal of contaminant hydrology·2021
Same author

Behavioral and neurochemical effects of dietary methyl donor deficiency combined with unpredictable chronic mild stress in rats.

Behavioural brain research·2013
Same author

Susceptibility to pentylenetetrazol-induced and audiogenic seizures in rats given aspirative lesions of the fimbria-fornix pathways followed by intrahippocampal grafts: a time-course approach.

Restorative neurology and neuroscience·2011
Same author

Factors influencing structure and function of intracerebral grafts in the mammalian brain: a review.

Restorative neurology and neuroscience·2011
Same author

On the cation dependence of interlamellar and interparticular water and swelling in smectite clays.

Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids·2010
Same author

Effects of ethanol and ecstasy on conditioned place preference in the rat.

Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)·2009

Novelty in the environment or home cage increases rat locomotion initially. These changes do not impact long-term diurnal or nocturnal activity patterns in behavioral neuroscience studies.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Animal behavior research
  • Rodent models in research

Background:

  • Locomotor activity is a key measure in behavioral neuroscience.
  • Variability in protocols can be influenced by exploration and novelty-seeking behaviors.
  • Understanding these influences is crucial for accurate experimental design.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how changes in environmental or cage novelty affect locomotor activity in rats.
  • To determine if proximal (cage) or distal (room) novelty has a greater impact.
  • To assess the duration of novelty-induced locomotor changes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized Long-Evans male rats for experiments.
  • Manipulated environmental novelty by placing rats in identical cages with fresh bedding in a familiar room.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Manipulated cage novelty by placing the home cage with the rat into an unfamiliar room.

    • Main Results:

    • Both proximal and distal novelty significantly increased locomotion within the first 2 hours.
    • No significant additive effect was observed when both types of novelty were present.
    • Locomotor activity beyond the initial 2 hours was not significantly altered, showing no impact on diurnal or nocturnal patterns.

    Conclusions:

    • Rats exhibit increased activity in response to distal novelty (unfamiliar room) even with stable proximal features (home cage).
    • Rats also increase activity when familiar environments experience proximal changes (home cage modifications).
    • These findings highlight the sensitivity of locomotor activity to novelty and the importance of controlling for environmental factors in behavioral studies.