Vendor differences in anxiety-like behaviors in female and male Sprague Dawley rats

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 227; p. 113131
• Main Authors: Tsuda, Mumeko C., Mahdi, Sumayyah, Namchuk, Amanda, Wu, T. John, Lucki, Irwin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Animal model; Anxiety; Behavior; Sprague dawley; Strain differences; Vendor; Sprague dawley; Animal model; Anxiety; Strain differences; Vendor; Behavior
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113131

•Supplier-dependent differences in behavioral performances on anxiety-related tests.•Of the three vendors, rats from Taconic exhibited a consistent anxiety phenotype.•Serum corticosterone levels did not differ between vendors. Although Sprague Dawley outbred rats are commonly used in behavioral, physiological, and pharmacological studies, dramatic differences in responses may emerge from rats obtained from different suppliers even when sex, age, and environmental conditions are maintained constant. In the present study, we compared behavioral responses on three tests related to anxiety of Sprague Dawley female and male rats obtained from three different vendors in the United States: Charles River, Envigo, and Taconic. All rats were tested in the open field, light-dark box, and elevated zero maze. We found reduced time spent in the center area of the open field and decreased light compartment duration in the light-dark box test in female and male rats from Taconic compared to Charles River and Envigo rats, suggesting anxiety-like behaviors differ between the three vendors. No vendor differences were found on performance in the elevated zero maze. Furthermore, the contribution of stress hormones to vendor differences was examined by measuring serum corticosterone levels in rats 30 min after exposure to the elevated zero maze. There were no vendor differences in corticosterone levels, suggesting that endogenous levels of stress hormones most likely did not contribute to vendor differences in anxiety-like behaviors. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of vendor selection of the Sprague Dawley stock for research involving behavioral tests related to anxiety.