1. |
- Codita, Alina, et al.
(författare)
-
Effects of spatial and cognitive enrichment on activity pattern and learning performance in three strains of mice in the IntelliMaze.
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Behavior Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0001-8244 .- 1573-3297. ; 42:3, s. 449-460
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IntelliMaze allows automated behavioral analysis of group housed laboratory mice while individually assigned protocols can be applied concomitantly for different operant conditioning components. Here we evaluate the effect of additional component availability (enrichment) on behavioral and cognitive performance of mice in the IntelliCage, by focusing on aspects that had previously been found to consistently differ between three strains, in four European laboratories. Enrichment decreased the activity level in the IntelliCages and enhanced spatial learning performance. However, it did not alter strain differences, except for activity during the initial experimental phase. Our results from non-enriched IntelliCages proved consistent between laboratories, but overall laboratory-consistency for data collected using different IntelliCage set-ups, did not hold for activity levels during the initial adaptation phase. Our results suggest that the multiple conditioning in spatially and cognitively enriched environments are feasible without affecting external validity for a specific task, provided animals have adapted to such an IntelliMaze.
|
|
2. |
- Johansson Jänkänpää, Hanna, et al.
(författare)
-
Non-photochemical quenching capacity in arabidopsis thaliana affects herbivore behaviour
- 2013
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:1, s. e53232-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Under natural conditions, plants have to cope with numerous stresses, including light-stress and herbivory. This raises intriguing questions regarding possible trade-offs between stress defences and growth. As part of a program designed to address these questions we have compared herbivory defences and damage in wild type Arabidopsis thaliana and two "photoprotection genotypes", npq4 and oePsbS, which respectively lack and overexpress PsbS (a protein that plays a key role in qE-type non-photochemical quenching). In dual-choice feeding experiments both a specialist (Plutella xylostella) and a generalist (Spodoptera littoralis) insect herbivore preferred plants that expressed PsbS most strongly. In contrast, although both herbivores survived equally well on each of the genotypes, for oviposition female P. xylostella adults preferred plants that expressed PsbS least strongly. However, there were no significant differences between the genotypes in levels of the 10 most prominent glucosinolates; key substances in the Arabidopsis anti-herbivore chemical defence arsenal. After transfer from a growth chamber to the field we detected significant differences in the genotypes' metabolomic profiles at all tested time points, using GC-MS, but no consistent "metabolic signature'' for the lack of PsbS. These findings suggest that the observed differences in herbivore preferences were due to differences in the primary metabolism of the plants rather than their contents of typical "defence compounds". A potentially significant factor is that superoxide accumulated most rapidly and to the highest levels under high light conditions in npq4 mutants. This could trigger changes in planta that are sensed by herbivores either directly or indirectly, following its dismutation to H2O2.
|
|