Behavioral, hormonal, and neural alterations induced by social contagion for pain model in mice

Neuropharmacology. 2021 Nov 10:108878. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108878. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTNeurobiology of social contagion/empathy aims to collaborate with the development of treatments for human disorders characterized by the absence of this response - autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and antisocial personality disorder. Previous studies using sustained aversive stimuli (e.g., neuropathic pain or stress) to induce social contagion behaviors in rodents have demonstrated that these conditions may increase hypernociception, anxiogenic-like effects, and defensive behaviors in cagemates. To amplify the knowledge about behavioral, hormonal, and neural alterations induced by cohabitation with a pair in neuropathic pain, we investigated the effects of this protocol on (i) pain (writhing, formalin, hot plate tests) and depression (sucrose splash test) responses, (ii) the serum levels of corticosterone, testosterone, and oxytocin, (iii) noradrenalin, dopamine and its metabolite (DOPAC and HVA) levels in the amygdaloid complex and insular cortex, (iv) neuronal activation pattern (FosB labeling) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SO). One day after weaning, male Swiss mice were housed in pairs for 14 days. Then, they were divided into two groups: sciatic nerve constricted cagemate [CNC; i.e., one animal of each pair was subjected to sciatic nerve constriction (NC)], and cagemate sham (C...
Source: Neuropharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research