Equipped with a rodent version of a Cybertruck, these driving rats reveal that positive experiences may sculpt the brain just as powerfully as stressful ones
From the article in Neuroscience about the 12 week experiment (CW clinical gore):
spoiler
Long-Evans male (N = 20) and female (N = 20) rats, approximately 6 weeks of age, were obtained from Envigo (Madison, WI, USA).
After completing all behavioral assessments, rats were anesthetized by exposure to isoflurane and were transcardially perfused at 40 mL/min using a MasterFlex L/S perfusion pump (Cole Parmer; Vernon Hills, IL, USA). During perfusions, approximately 100 mL of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution was pumped through the brain to clear all blood, followed by approximately 200 mL of 4 % paraformaldehyde for tissue fixation purposes. Brains were then extracted and divided sagittally so that the right hemisphere could be processed using the FD Rapid GolgiStain TM Kit (FD NeuroTechnologies, Inc., Columbia, MD, USA), and the left hemisphere could be used for immunohistochemical processing.
Long Evans rats mean life expectancy is about 3 years.
This is one of the tamer experimental protocols, where the animals were not required to undergo terrifically disfigurative surgery to collect data or control conditions in vivo. I have great difficulty imagining how hard it would be to become even slightly attached to those animals and still complete the research duties.
Well colour me corrected, I would have assumed they’d let their rats live out the rest of the lives peacefully but I suppose not. Pretty fucked up then.
Has to be one of the best jobs on the planet. Getting paid to bring joy to rats, and then studying ways to enhance that joy.
From the article in Neuroscience about the 12 week experiment (CW clinical gore):
spoiler
Long Evans rats mean life expectancy is about 3 years. This is one of the tamer experimental protocols, where the animals were not required to undergo terrifically disfigurative surgery to collect data or control conditions in vivo. I have great difficulty imagining how hard it would be to become even slightly attached to those animals and still complete the research duties.
Well colour me corrected, I would have assumed they’d let their rats live out the rest of the lives peacefully but I suppose not. Pretty fucked up then.
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