The Critical Point at which Post-Weaning Individual Housing Conditions Affect the Emission of 22-kHz Calls in Male Rats

Hideaki INAGAKI, Yuji MORI
2013 Journal of Veterinary Medical Science  
It is known that long-term post-weaning individual housing significantly reduces emissions of 22-kHz calls in male rats. In this study, we assessed post-weaning successive changes in 22-kHz calls emitted by male rats under two different types of post-weaning housing conditions (individually and socially). In addition, we evaluated the critical point at which a significant reduction in 22-kHz calls could be observed in male rats housed individually after weaning. Significantly fewer 22-kHz calls
more » ... were emitted by individually housed rats compared to socially housed rats at 16 weeks of age, indicating that 13 weeks after weaning may be a critical point for the reduction of 22-kHz calls caused by post-weaning individual housing. KEY WORDS: early social isolation, indicator of stress, ultrasonic vocalization.
doi:10.1292/jvms.12-0388 pmid:23154453 fatcat:y2di7a47bjb55bcfhjhg6si3oe