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Chem Senses

Title:		Chronic Co-species Housing Mice and Rats Increased the Competitiveness of Male Mice
Author(s):		Liu YJ; Li LF; Zhang YH; Guo HF; Xia M; Zhang MW; Jing XY; Zhang JH; Zhang JX;
Address:		"School of Life Science and Technology, Nanyang Normal University, 1638 Wolong Road, Wolong District, Nanyang 473061, Henan Province, China and. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China"
Journal Title:		Chem Senses
Year:		2017
Volume:		42
Issue:		3
Page Number:		247 - 257
DOI:		10.1093/chemse/bjw164
ISSN/ISBN:		1464-3553 (Electronic) 0379-864X (Linking)
Abstract:		"Rats are predators of mice in nature. Nevertheless, it is a common practice to house mice and rats in a same room in some laboratories. In this study, we investigated the behavioral and physiological responsively of mice in long-term co-species housing conditions. Twenty-four male mice were randomly assigned to their original raising room (control) or a rat room (co-species-housed) for more than 6 weeks. In the open-field and light-dark box tests, the behaviors of the co-species-housed mice and controls were not different. In a 2-choice test of paired urine odors [rabbit urine (as a novel odor) vs. rat urine, cat urine (as a natural predator-scent) vs. rabbit urine, and cat urine vs. rat urine], the co-species-housed mice were more ready to investigate the rat urine odor compared with the controls and may have adapted to it. In an encounter test, the rat-room-exposed mice exhibited increased aggression levels, and their urines were more attractive to females. Correspondingly, the levels of major urinary proteins were increased in the co-species-housed mouse urine, along with some volatile pheromones. The serum testosterone levels were also enhanced in the co-species-housed mice, whereas the corticosterone levels were not different. The norepinephrine, dopamine, and 5-HT levels in the right hippocampus and striatum were not different between the 2. Our findings indicate that chronic co-species housing results in adaptation in male mice; furthermore, it appears that long-term rat-odor stimuli enhance the competitiveness of mice, which suggests that appropriate predator-odor stimuli may be important to the fitness of prey animals"
Keywords:		"Animals Cats *Competitive Behavior Corticosterone/metabolism Female *Housing, Animal Male Mice Mice, Inbred ICR Odorants/analysis Pheromones/urine Rabbits Rats Rats, Sprague-Dawley Smell Urine/chemistry MUPs co-species housing hormone pheromone rat;"
Notes:		"MedlineLiu, Ying-Juan Li, Lai-Fu Zhang, Yao-Hua Guo, Hui-Fen Xia, Min Zhang, Meng-Wei Jing, Xiao-Yuan Zhang, Jing-Hua Zhang, Jian-Xu eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2017/01/12 Chem Senses. 2017 Mar 1; 42(3):247-257. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjw164"