Breathing Rate as a Marker for Noise-Induced Stress in Guinea Pigs

Background: Breathing rate is affected by physical stressors such as temperature or hypercapnia and by psychosocial stressors such as noise or overcrowding. In behavioral tests for tinnitus, rodents are often presented with trains of startle pulses. We postulated that using these pulses at successively higher sound levels would produce a cumulative increase in stress. Here, we demonstrate a novel means of assessing that increase in stress. Methods: By placing pairs of reflective markers on the abdomen and using a motion tracking system, we were able to remotely measure respiratory movements. A series of 20 startle pulses were presented in sequence at seven increasing sound levels, and changes in respiratory rate were tested with the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test and the Friedman Test. Results: Markers placed on 20 alert active mice showed evidence of sniffing behavior but no purely respiratory signal. By contrast, in all 18 guinea pigs, abdominal markers did track respiratory movements. The breathing rate in guinea pigs was similar to previous studies: (mean 104 ± 13; range 86-131 bpm). Presenting quiet startle pulses to guinea pigs caused a significant increase in breathing rate (by about 20%), even with pulses at 75-80 dB SPL. Increasing pulse sound levels in the range of 85-105 dB SPL did not reliably produce any further increase in breathing rate. Conclusions: We propose that tracking abdominal movement may allow measurement of psychosocial stress in the guinea pig. Once an animal is startled, increasing the pulse sound level did not produce any further increase in stress levels.