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A preliminary study for identifying olfactory markers of fear in the rat

Lab Animal volume 37, pages 76–80 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

In stressful situations, many animals release alarm pheromones to warn conspecifics of impending danger. The authors sought to establish experimental conditions for a larger study aimed at identifying alarm pheromones emitted by the rat. They placed rats in a specially designed chamber and exposed them to aversive tactile, visual and acoustic stimuli over the course of a few days. The researchers observed rats' behavior and analyzed air samples taken from their immediate environment under the following conditions: (i) when rats were unstressed; (ii) immediately after rats were exposed to aversive stimuli; and (iii) when rats were left alone in the chamber after being conditioned to fear imminent aversive stimuli. Stressed rats emitted several substances that are known to function as alarm pheromones in insects. When previously unstressed control rats were exposed to these same substances, they had a distinct behavioral fear response.

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Figure 1: A construction diagram of the exposure device.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Roman Hauser,  Marek Wiergowski,  Michał Kaliszan &  Zbigniew Jankowski

  2. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland

    Marcin Marczak &  Jacek Namieśnik

  3. Department of Neurology of Adults, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Bartosz Karaszewski

  4. Department of Physics and Biophysics, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Michał Penkowski

  5. Forensic Medicine Section, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Gerhard Kernbach-Wighton

Authors
  1. Roman Hauser
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  2. Marcin Marczak
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Correspondence to Roman Hauser.

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Hauser, R., Marczak, M., Karaszewski, B. et al. A preliminary study for identifying olfactory markers of fear in the rat. Lab Anim 37, 76–80 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0208-76

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