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We previously established two strains of Mongolian gerbil: a seizure-sensitive strain, established by selective inbreeding for motor seizures elicited by a stimulus called the S method and a seizure-resistant strain that does not exhibit inducible seizures. The behavior of the seizure-sensitive strain is characterized by a progressive increase in responsiveness to weekly application of the S method, from repetitive backward ear movements appearing after postnatal day 40, to a full-blown seizure, while the seizure-resistant strain is apparently unaffected by the stimulation. The difference between these two strains is presumably genetic. To determine the genetic factors underlying this difference, we first examined developmental changes in the stimulus-induced behavior of the F1 hybrids. When the S method was applied, most F1 hybrids had repetitive movements of the ears (and head) similar to the seizure-sensitive gerbils, but generalized seizures emerged considerably later than in seizure-sensitive gerbils. These results suggest that a half dose of the gene products involved renders most gerbils susceptible to the stimulus but is insufficient for the rapid accumulation of an as yet undefined change needed to spread the abnormal electrophysiologic activity to elicit generalized seizures

Activity. --- Adult. --- Animal model. --- Application. --- Behavior. --- Brain. --- Developmental-changes. --- El mice. --- Epilepsy. --- F1 hybrids. --- Gene. --- Genes. --- Genetic. --- Gerbil. --- Gerbils. --- Human. --- Increase. --- Method. --- Mongolian gerbil. --- Mongolian-gerbil. --- Mouse. --- Movement. --- Movements. --- Repetitive ear movements. --- Seizure. --- Seizures. --- Stimulation. --- Stimulus. --- Time.

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Young animals respond to threatening stimuli in an age-specific way. Their endocrine and behavioral responses reflect the potential threat of the situation at a given age. The aim of the present study was to determine whether corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is involved in the endocrine and behavioral responses to threat and their developmental changes in young rats. Preweaning 14-day-old and postweaning 26-day-old rats were exposed to two age-specific threats, cat odor and an adult male rat. The acute behavioral response was determined during exposure. After exposure, the time courses of the corticosterone response and of CRF expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and in extrahypothalamic areas were assessed. Preweaning rats became immobile when exposed to cat odor or the male rat, whereas postweaning rats became immobile to cat odor only. Male exposure increased serum corticosterone levels in 14-day-old rats, but cat odor failed to increase levels at either age. Exposure induced elevation of CRF mRNA levels in the PVN that paralleled changes in corticosterone levels. CRF may thus play a role in endocrine regulation and its developmental changes during early life. Neither cat odor nor the adult male altered CRF mRNA levels in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) or the amygdala, but both stimuli increased levels in the hippocampus. Hippocampal CRF mRNA expression levels did not parallel cat odor or male-induced immobility, indicating that CRF is not involved in this response in young rats but may be involved in aspects of learning and memory. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Adult. --- Age. --- Amygdala. --- Animal. --- Animals. --- Area. --- Bed nucleus. --- Behavioral-responses. --- Cat odor. --- Cat. --- Corticosterone. --- Corticotropin-releasing factor. --- Corticotropin-releasing hormone. --- Corticotropin-releasing-factor. --- Crf. --- Defensive-withdrawal. --- Dentate gyrus. --- Developmental-changes. --- Endocrine. --- Exposure. --- Expression. --- Fear. --- Gene-expression. --- Glucocorticoid. --- Hippocampal. --- Hippocampus. --- Hpa axis. --- Hypothalamus. --- Immature rat. --- Immobility. --- Immobilization stress. --- Increase. --- Learning. --- Level. --- Life. --- Male rat. --- Male. --- Memory. --- Messenger-rna expression. --- Nucleus. --- Odor. --- Paraventricular nucleus. --- Pituitary-adrenal axis. --- Play. --- Predation. --- Rat. --- Rats. --- Regulation. --- Response. --- Responses. --- Serum. --- Stimuli. --- Stria terminalis. --- Time-course. --- Time. --- Ultrasonic vocalization. --- Young-rats. --- Young.