Social context influences sensorimotor gating in female African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni.

Social context influences sensorimotor gating in female African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni. Behav Brain Res. 2019 May 15;:111925 Authors: Adelman M, Chen AY, Aberg A, Neumeister H, Preuss T Abstract Disruption in prepulse inhibition (PPI), a sensorimotor gating phenomenon found in many species has been associated with various psychiatric disorders in humans. Social defeat has been identified as a mediator of naturally evoked reductions of PPI in African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni where males reversibly alter social status and their sensorimotor gating abilities. Here we investigated A. burtoni females, which establish a male-like social hierarchy with dominant (DOM) and subordinate (SUB) individuals, when housed in communities without males. We asked if DOM and SUB females demonstrate socially induced PPI differences comparable to their male DOM and SUB counterparts. Results suggest that social defeat reduced PPI in SUB females as compared to DOM females (p = 0.033) and mixed-sex community female controls (p = 0.017). However, socially defeated females in same sex communities remained proactive when engaging in antagonistic behaviors, which appears beneficial in avoiding substantial reductions in PPI as seen in reactive, socially defeated males. In open field swimming tests, SUB females exhibited increased anxiety-related behavior (thigmotaxis) as compared to females from mixed-sex communities (COM). Taken tog...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research