Anxiety-like behavior and tectal gene expression in a foraging/predator avoidance tradeoff task using adult African clawed frogs Xenopus laevis
Anxiety-like behavior and tectal gene expression in a foraging/predator avoidance tradeoff task using adult African clawed frogs Xenopus laevis
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DOI：
10.1007/s00265-022-03219-0
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发表时间：
2022-08
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
N. M. Menon;J. A. Carr
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
N. M. Menon;J. A. Carr
动物经常在有捕食者提示的情况下停止觅食，这是一种被称为觅食/捕食者回避权衡的生态现象。尽管一些人提出，暴露在捕食者线索下的动物可能存在焦虑，但很少有研究研究这种相互作用是否会导致实验室啮齿动物和斑马鱼以外的动物出现类似焦虑的行为。在这项实验中，使用成年雄性非洲爪蛙(非洲爪蛙)和隐约可见的视觉捕食者刺激来修改觅食/捕食者回避任务，以确定(1)视觉捕食者线索是否减少食欲行为，(2)视觉捕食者线索是否导致捕食者回避行为，以及(3)视觉捕食者线索是否改变了视顶盖中已知在焦虑时调节的其他大脑区域转录的丰富程度。暴露在捕食者刺激下的青蛙并没有减少它们的食物摄入量，尽管扫地是一种觅食行为，但捕食者的刺激显著减少了这种行为。与对照组相比，暴露于捕食者的动物停留的时间明显更长，进入捕食者区域的时间更少。在视觉顶盖中，焦虑相关多肽的相对转录丰度在统计学上没有显著变化。总的来说，这种权衡任务能够诱导离散的回避和食欲行为，这些行为类似于在其他捕食者回避模型中观察到的类似焦虑的行为；然而，视觉威胁对摄食和焦虑相关转录丰度的影响需要进一步研究。意义声明停止觅食活动以提高警觉性并参与回避行为已被提出在许多动物物种中对捕食者遭遇的生存起到适应作用。一些人提出，焦虑是一种与回避和反捕食者行为相关的状态。然而，很少有研究研究这种觅食/捕食者回避权衡是否会导致啮齿类动物以外的动物出现类似焦虑的行为。我们在一种水蛙物种中开发了一种觅食/捕食者避免权衡任务，以确定看到迫在眉睫的视觉威胁是否会干扰摄食，并导致两栖动物的焦虑样行为。我们的数据表明，当存在视觉威胁时，觅食/捕食者回避权衡的某些行为方面会模仿焦虑行为，而不是其他方面(例如，觅食)。这些数据有助于越来越多的文献表明，焦虑可能是非哺乳动物物种对捕食者威胁的适应性反应。
Animals often halt foraging in the presence of predator cues, an ecological phenomenon known as the foraging/predator avoidance tradeoff. Although some have proposed that anxiety may exist in animals exposed to predator cues, few studies have examined whether such interactions lead to anxiety-like behavior in animals other than laboratory rodents and zebrafish. In this experiment, a foraging/predator avoidance tradeoff task was modified using adult male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) and a looming visual predator stimulus to determine if (1) visual predator cues reduce appetitive behavior, (2) visual predator cues lead to predator avoidance behavior, and (3) if visual predator cues alter the abundance of transcripts in the optic tectum known to be modulated in other brain areas during anxiety. Frogs exposed to the predator stimulus did not reduce their food intake, although sweeping, a foraging behavior, was significantly reduced by the predator stimulus. Predator-exposed animals spent significantly more time stationary and entered the predator zone less compared controls. There were no statistically significant changes in relative transcript abundance of anxiety-related peptides between the groups in the optic tectum. Collectively, this tradeoff task was able to induce discrete avoidance and appetitive behaviors that are similar to anxiety-like behaviors observed in other predator avoidance models; however, the effects of visual threats on feeding and anxiety-related transcript abundance requires further study.Significance statementHalting foraging activities to increase vigilance and engage avoidance behaviors has been proposed to play an adaptive role in survival of predator encounters in a number of animal species. Some have proposed that anxiety evolved as a state associated with the engagement of avoidance and antipredator behavior. However, few studies have examined whether such foraging/predator avoidance tradeoffs result in anxiety-like behavior in animals other than rodents. We developed a foraging/predator avoidance tradeoff task in an aquatic frog species to determine if the sight of a looming visual threat interferes with feeding and causes anxiety-like behavior in an amphibian. Our data suggest that some, but not other (feeding, for example), behavioral aspects of foraging/predator avoidance tradeoffs mimic anxiety-like behavior when a visual threat is present. These data contribute to a growing body of literature indicating that anxiety may be an adaptive response to predator threats in non-mammalian species.