Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Grippo, Angela J.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Social isolation has several psychological and physiological consequences including anxiety and depressive-like behaviors, rapid heart rate (HR), and elevated blood pressure. Social isolation also combines with acute environmental stress to influence emotions and behaviors. The present study evaluated behavioral responses to a combination of long-term social stress and acute stress in the prairie vole rodent model, and whether an environmental treatment could protect against anxiety-related consequences of acute and social stress. Prairie voles engage in social behaviors translational to humans, including monogamous relationships, and provide a valuable model for investigating the interactions of social stress and acute environmental stress. In the current study, a cohort of 32, 16 male and 16 female, prairie voles were isolated from their sibling for four weeks. After the first two weeks of isolation, half of the prairie voles were individually placed in a larger housing cage with environmental enrichment (EE) while the other half remained in their standard housing, all animals continued to be isolated. Following the isolation period, each animal was individually placed in a small cage and set on a shaker table for 60 minutes. Shaker stress as an acute stressor - as well as combined with other stressors - has exhibited to influence hormonal and behavioral responses in previous research. Immediately following the shaker stressor, each animal underwent a five-minute open field test (OFT) to capture exploratory and anxiety-like behaviors. While no statistically significant results were observed, behavioral patterns were evident between sexes in which EE males exhibited slightly decreased anxiety-related behaviors compared to EE females. Females may exhibit lower resilience to multiple stressors versus males – including either social stressors, environmental stressors, or both – resulting in reduced effectiveness of EE to protect against stress responses in females. These findings can be translated to humans by suggesting that females may respond more negatively to some environmental and/or social stressors compared to males, and need further investigation based on their lack of ability to respond adaptively to stress-inducing environments. Future research utilizing combinations of chronic social stress and acute environmental stress may involve analyses of physiological measures including corticosterone levels, cardiovascular responses, and immune system reactivity. Additionally, investigating neurological markers, specifically focusing on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, hippocampus, and amygdala, could enhance our understanding of these complex interactions.

Extent

122 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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