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Full-Text Articles in Organisms

Pain In Aquatic Animals, Lynne U. Sneddon Aug 2015

Pain In Aquatic Animals, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Recent developments in the study of pain in animals have demonstrated the potential for pain perception in a variety of wholly aquatic species such as molluscs, crustaceans and fish. This allows us to gain insight into how the ecological pressures and differential life history of living in a watery medium can yield novel data that inform the comparative physiology and evolution of pain. Nociception is the simple detection of potentially painful stimuli usually accompanied by a reflex withdrawal response, and nociceptors have been found in aquatic invertebrates such as the sea slug Aplysia. It would seem adaptive to have a …


What Do Zebrafish Want? Impact Of Social Grouping, Dominance And Gender On Preference For Enrichment, Paul Schroeder, Soffia Jones, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon Aug 2015

What Do Zebrafish Want? Impact Of Social Grouping, Dominance And Gender On Preference For Enrichment, Paul Schroeder, Soffia Jones, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Although environmental enrichment is known to improve laboratory rodent wellbeing and enhance scientific data collection, relatively little is known with regards to the type of enrichment that might be useful for zebrafish (Danio rerio). Therefore, this study explored if zebrafish displayed preferences for a range of enrichments, including substrates, artificial plants, combinations thereof and airstones. Tanks divided into two compartments containing different enrichment cues were used to determine the preferences of zebrafish housed in pairs and groups of eight. When comparing time spent in enriched versus barren compartments, dominant individuals in a pair displayed a preference for substrate and behaviourally …


Environmental Change Alters Personality In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Ashley J. Frost, Jack S. Thomson, Charlotte Smith, Hannah C. Burton, Ben Davis, Phillip C. Watts, Lynne U. Sneddon Aug 2015

Environmental Change Alters Personality In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Ashley J. Frost, Jack S. Thomson, Charlotte Smith, Hannah C. Burton, Ben Davis, Phillip C. Watts, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Boldness is a personality trait that defines how individuals respond to risky situations and has clear fitness consequences. Since the adaptive value of boldness is context dependent, the benefit of a distinct personality is less clear when the environment is unpredictable. An ability to modulate behaviour can be beneficial, although as behavioural plasticity itself may be costly this depends on the levels of environmental stability. Both boldness and its plasticity are linked with physiological stress coping mechanisms, whereby animals with reduced glucocorticoid responses to stress are bolder and less flexible in behaviour. We investigated the behavioural changes made by bold …


Characterisation Of Chemosensory Trigeminal Receptors In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Responses To Chemical Irritants And Carbon Dioxide, Jessica J. Mettam, Catherine R. Mccrohan, Lynne U. Sneddon Jul 2015

Characterisation Of Chemosensory Trigeminal Receptors In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Responses To Chemical Irritants And Carbon Dioxide, Jessica J. Mettam, Catherine R. Mccrohan, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Trigeminally innervated, mechanically sensitive chemoreceptors (M) were previously identified in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but it is not known whether these receptors are responsive only to noxious, chemical irritants or have a general chemosensory function. This study aimed to characterise the stimulus–response properties of these receptors in comparison with polymodal nociceptors (P). Both P and M gave similar response profiles to acetic acid concentrations. The electrophysiological properties were similar between the two different afferent types. To determine whether the receptors have a nociceptive function, a range of chemical stimulants was applied to these receptors, including non-noxious stimuli such as ammonium …


Defining And Assessing Animal Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, Robert W. Elwood, Shelley A. Adamo, Matthew C. Leach Jun 2015

Defining And Assessing Animal Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, Robert W. Elwood, Shelley A. Adamo, Matthew C. Leach

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

The detection and assessment of pain in animals is crucial to improving their welfare in a variety of contexts in which humans are ethically or legally bound to do so. Thus clear standards to judge whether pain is likely to occur in any animal species is vital to inform whether to alleviate pain or to drive the refinement of procedures to reduce invasiveness, thereby minimizing pain. We define two key concepts that can be used to evaluate the potential for pain in both invertebrate and vertebrate taxa. First, responses to noxious, potentially painful events should affect neurobiology, physiology and behaviour …


Physiological And Behavioural Responses To Noxious Stimuli In The Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua), Jared R. Eckroth, Øyvind Aas-Hansen, Lynne U. Sneddon, Helena Bichão, Kjell B. Døving Apr 2015

Physiological And Behavioural Responses To Noxious Stimuli In The Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua), Jared R. Eckroth, Øyvind Aas-Hansen, Lynne U. Sneddon, Helena Bichão, Kjell B. Døving

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

In the present study, our aim was to compare physiological and behavioural responses to different noxious stimuli to those of a standardized innocuous stimulus, to possibly identify aversive responses indicative of injury detection in a commercially important marine teleost fish, the Atlantic cod. Individual fish were administered with a noxious stimulus to the lip under short-term general anaesthesia (MS-222). The noxious treatments included injection of 0.1% or 2% acetic acid, 0.005% or 0.1% capsaicin, or piercing the lip with a commercial fishing hook. Counts of opercular beat rate (OBR) at 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min and observations of …


Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon Apr 2015

Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Bold, risk-taking animals have previously been putatively linked with a proactive stress coping style whereas it is suggested shyer, risk-averse animals exhibit a reactive coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the expression of bold-type behaviour were evident within and between two lines of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, selectively bred for a low (LR) or high (HR) endocrine response to stress, and to link boldness and stress responsiveness with the expression of related candidate genes. Boldness was determined in individual fish over two trials by measuring the latency to approach a novel object. Differences …