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oai:repisalud.isciii.es:20.500.12105/194412025-05-07T09:28:14Zcom_20.500.12105_2052com_20.500.12105_2051com_20.500.12105_15322col_20.500.12105_19613col_20.500.12105_16981

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Popović, Natalija author Baño-Otalora, Beatriz author Rol, Maria-Angeles author Venero, César author Madrid, Juan Antonio author Popović, Miroljub author 2023-08 Introduction: Prolonged social isolation is a form of passive chronic stress that has consequences on human and animal behavior. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the long-term isolation would precipitate age-related changes in anxiety and spatial learning and memory in degus. Methods: We investigated the effects of long-term social isolation on anxiety levels in the light-dark test, and spatial orientation abilities in the Barnes maze. Middle-aged female Octodon degus were allocated to either group-housed (3 animals per cage) or individually-housed for 5 months. Results: Under this experimental condition, there were no significant group differences in the anxiety level tested in the light-dark test and in the motivation to escape from the Barnes maze. There were no significant differences in cortisol levels between individually- and group-housed animals. On the last acquisition training day of spatial learning, individually- housed animals had a significantly higher number of correct responses and a smaller number of reference and working memory errors than the group-housed animals. In addition, isolated animals showed a tendency for reference and working memory impairment on the retention trial, while group-housed degus showed improvement in these parameters. Discussion and conclusion: The present study indicates that prolonged social isolation during adulthood in female degus has a dual effect on spatial orientation. Specifically, it results in a significant improvement in acquisition skills but a slight impairment in memory retention. The obtained cognitive changes were not accompanied by modification in anxiety and cortisol levels. Front Behav Neurosci. 2023 Aug 3:17:1221090. 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1221090 1662-5153 Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience 37600762 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/19441 Barnes maze Light-dark test Octodon degus Social isolation Anxiety Learning and memory Effects of long-term individual housing of middle-aged female Octodon degus on spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task