Abstract
Individually housed rats displayed longer nociceptive latencies than did group-housed animals both before and after very brief, mild electric shocks. The lack of effect of mild shock in changing latencies indicates that individual housing did not result in a stress-induced hypoalgesia rein-stateable by a mild stressor, itself insufficient to cause hypoalgesia in normal animals. The longer latencies were entirely a function of the housing condition current at the time of testing. No carryover effects occurred from the housing condition that was in effect immediately after weaning. Therefore, it is likely that no critical period exists for nociceptive sensitivity. The longer latencies support the hypothesis that individual housing is stressful in rats. These results may be of interest to those planning experiments or comparing results across laboratories on stress-induced hypoalgesia.
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This research was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the PhD degree in the Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. It was supported by a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship and by the Center for Research in Learning, Perception, and Cognition. I would like to thank J. Bruce Overmier, Kory Schuh, and Lisa Savage for many helpful discussions, and K. Schuh, L. Savage, and Juliann Furdek for aid in conducting this study.
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Schwandt, L.M. Individual versus group housing affects nociception independently of housing status during development. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 525–528 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337342
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337342