Gender and diurnal effects on specific open-field behavioral patterns in the portacaval shunted rat

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a frequently observed neuropsychiatric syndrome with unknown pathogenesis in patients suffering from chronic liver failure. The portacaval shunted (PCS) rat has been extensively used as an experimental model for HE and for studying the effects of portal-systemic shunting. Previous behavioral studies on PCS rats have shown a number of abnormalities but there is no consensus about which abnormalities are characteristic. We therefore made a thorough descriptive study of 100 male and female PCS rats and sham-operated controls four to six weeks after the shunting procedure in an open field. The frequency, duration and average time sequence of various kinds of defined spontaneous behavioral patterns were investigated during both night and day in order to assess behavioral differences between PCS rats and sham-operated controls. The results indicate differences especially regarding motor exploratory behaviors such as forward locomotion and rearing. There were also differences in eating and sniffing behaviors. Our results show that the overall behavioral alteration seen in PCS rats compared to sham-operated controls is that of hypoactivity.