Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8837698 | Behavioural Brain Research | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Measurement of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) produced by adult rats represents a highly useful index of emotional arousal. The associations found between 50â¯kHz USV production and a variety of behavioural and pharmacological protocols increasingly suggests they serve as a marker of positive motivational states. This study used a powerful within-subjects design to investigate the relationships among individual differences in approach to a sweet-food reward, predisposition to emit 50â¯kHz USVs spontaneously, and 50â¯kHz USVs emission following acute systemic administration of amphetamine. Both approach motivation and predisposition to call were found to not correlate with each other but did predict 50â¯kHz USV response to acute amphetamine. These two behavioural phenotypes appear to represent dissociable predictors of acute amphetamine-induced emission of 50â¯kHz USVs in a non-sensitization paradigm. In contrast to that, a measure of sucrose preference was not found to predict 50â¯kHz USV emission following amphetamine. Acute amphetamine was also found to increase average sound frequency of emitted USVs and selectively increase the proportion of Trill subtype 50â¯kHz USVs. Together, these data demonstrate that acute amphetamine-induced 50â¯kHz USVs in the adult rat represent more than just a univariate motivational state and may represent the product of dissociable subsystems of emotional behavior.
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Authors
Kevin G. Mulvihill, Stefan M. Brudzynski,