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http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v17/n1/abs/nrn.2015.8.html

Web End =L I N K TO O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.102

Web End =L I N K TO I N I T I A L C O R R E S P O N D E N C E

Stressing rodent self-grooming for neuroscience research

Cai Song, Kent C.Berridge and Allan V.Kalueff

We appreciate the thoughtful Correspondence by Fernndez-Teruel and Estanislau on our Review (Neurobiology of rodent self-grooming and its value for translational neuroscience. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 17, 4559 (2016))1, which raises the issue of the relationship between stress and self-grooming (Meanings of self-grooming depend on an inverted U-shaped function with aversiveness. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.102 (2016))2. We agree that the effect of stress on self-grooming can often be described as an inverted U-shaped function: self-grooming

typically occurs spontaneously at low arousal (as a maintenance behaviour), becomes longer (and may alter in pattern) during moderate arousal (as a displacement activity) and can be inhibited by high-stress states that elicit freezing, fight or flight responses14.

However, despite the usefulness of this view, caution is needed because the relationship between stress and self-grooming can be more complex, and self-grooming duration measures in relatively mild stress (the main behavioural measures and situations discussed in the Correspondence2) alone may

be insufficient for adequate neurobehavioural analyses of rodent self-grooming1,3,4.

For example, high-frequency, short bouts of self-grooming can yield a cumulative duration that is similar to that of fewer, longer bouts of such behaviour. Moreover, rats that exhibit different self-grooming durations may show no differences in anxiety-related behavioural or neuroendocrine parameters5.

In addition, as self-grooming frequency (the rate of initiation) and bout length (execution) under stress probably have differential neural underpinnings, these aspects of self-grooming...

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