btdt Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Lab Rats May Be Stressed By Men, Which May Skew Experiments by EYDER PERALTA April 29, 2014 7:34 PM ET A worker holds a white rodent at the State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy in Chengdu, China. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that mice left alone with a man had increased levels of the hormone corticosterone. China Photos/Getty Images During the course of an experiment, students at McGill University in Montreal noticed something odd: Rodents didn't seem to be showing signs of pain if they were handled by male students. The observation led to an experiment, which led to a finding that when mice are left alone with a man, they had an increase in the hormone corticosterone, which acts like a pain reliever. The scientists tested the mice with women and men and women wearing T-shirts that had been worn overnight by men. What they found is that mice were reacting to the presence of certain pheromones produced by men. "It's a primordial response," Jeffrey Mogil, one of the authors of the story, told Science magazine. "If you smell a solitary male nearby, chances are he's hunting or defending his territory." Pain means weakness, and you wouldn't want to show that. The findings may have implications for other experiments that use rodents. The New York Times explains: "The amount of stress felt by the rodents was 'massive,' said Jeffrey Mogil, a psychologist at McGill University and an author of the study, comparable with being 'in a very small tube so the mouse can't move for 15 minutes.' "The findings, published in Nature Methods, could have far-reaching repercussions for research. Rodents account for more than 95 percent of all lab animals, according to the National Association of Biomedical Research. If a researcher's sex might affect results, it should be considered a confounding factor, Dr. Mogil said. "And the effects may not be limited to living animals. 'Consider a study on liver physiology,' Dr. Mogil said. 'What if those liver cells came from a rat who, at the moment of sacrifice, had really high stress levels because it was killed by a man, or low because it was killed by a woman?' " Discover magazine reports that it is not clear how these findings may affect future research. WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 http://www.npr.org/ WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Altostrata Posted May 1, 2014 Administrator Share Posted May 1, 2014 This is a good one. Rodents models of emotional distress, my patootie. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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