15:30 - 17:00
Thu-P1
Planck Lobby & Meitner Hall
Ultrasonic vocalization and social behaviors in anophthalmic mice
Thu-P1-014
Presented by: Nouhaila Bouguiyoud
Nouhaila Bouguiyoud 1, 2, Elena Morales-Grahl 4, Gilles Bronchti 1, Florence Roullet 3, Johannes Frasnelli 1, 2, Syrina Al Aïn 1, 2
1 Department of Anatomy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada, 2 Cognition, Neurosciences, Affect et Comportement (CogNAC) Research Group, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, 4 Carleton College, Northfield, MN, United States.
Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are calls produced by mice in multiple social contexts, including mother-pup separation, social play in juveniles, social interactions, and mating in adults. Whereas sensory deprivation may alter USV emission and some social behaviors in deaf and anosmic rodents, little is known about the effects of visual deprivation in rodents. The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess acoustic communication and social behaviors in a congenitally blind mouse model, the ZRDBA strain. This strain generates litters comprising half the pups born blind (absence of eyes and optic nerves), and the other half born sighted. Anophthalmic and sighted mice were assayed to a series of behavioral tests at three different ages. Our findings showed that (1) at Post-Natal Day (PND) 7, USVs' total number between both groups was similar, all mice vocalized less during the second maternal isolation period than the first period, and both phenotypes showed similar discrimination and preference, favoring exploration of the home bedding odor; (2) at PND 30–35, anophthalmic mice engaged less in social behaviors in the juvenile play test than sighted ones, but the number of total USVs produced is not affected; and (3) at adulthood, when exposed to a female urine spot, anophthalmic male mice displayed faster responses in terms of USVs' emission and sniffing behavior, associated with a longer time spent exploring the female urinary odor. Interestingly, anxiety levels assessed in adult mice were significantly lower in anophthalmic mice compared with sighted mice. Together, our study reveals that congenital visual deprivation had no effect on the number of USVs emitted in the pups and juveniles, but affected the USVs' emission in the adult male and impacted the social behavior in juvenile and adult mice.