Inbred Strains
of Rats: RHA
Inbr. F48 (NIH 1989).
Colour: Albino.
Genet. c.
Origin: Bignami selected for high avoidance conditioning with light as
a conditioned stimulus and electric shock as the unconditioned stimulus
(Bignami 1965). To NIH in 1968 where b x s
mating was initiated. (Note: The original outbred stock, and possibly
some independently derived strains are still in existance, so the "N"
qualifier has been retained to distinguish this particular strain).
Characteristics
Good reproductive performance. Behavioural characteristics have been described
by Dutsch and Battig (
1977), Driscoll
et al (
1979), Fumm and Battig (
1979), Martin (
1979). A congenic
strain carrying the jaundice mutation (j) from the Gunn strain of rats
has been developed by Dr. Carl Hansen, NIH (
Chowdhury
et al 1987). Low levels of cadmium failed to increase one-way avoidance
in juvenie rats, in contrast with outbred heterogeneous stock rats (
Pelletier and Satinder, 1991). Post-natal
handling induced long-lasting changes in both RHA and RLA rats with a
decrease in emotional reactivity and an increase in exploratory activity.
RHA rats show more head dipping behaviour than RLA, but environmental
treatments can increase this to the level seen in RHA (
Fernandezteruel et al, 1992a). Compared with RLA, RHA
performed less well in three tests of working memory and had higher exploratory
activity. RU 41656 induced a significant improvement in working memory
performance in RHA, but it had no effect in RLA (
Willig
et al, 1992). No differences between RHA and RLA could be found in
basal hypothalamo-pituitary adrenocortical axis activity or in response
to different protocols of novel environmental stress, but stimulated prolactin
levels were higher in RLA (
Castanon et al,
1992).
Other papers comparing RHA and RLA include Fernandezteruel et al, (1992b,
1993, 1994), Roozendaal et al, (1992, 1993), Fechtali et al, (1993), Giorgi et al, (1994),
Castanon et al, (1994), Castanon and
Mormede (1994), Haney et al, (1994), Chaouloff et al, (1994),
Charnay et al, (1995), Aubry et al, (1995), Escorihuela et al, (1995), Castanon et al, (1995),
Kulikov et al, (1995), Siegel et al,
(1993)
Aubry J.
M., Bartanusz V., Driscoll P., Schulz P., Steimer T., and Kiss J. Z. (1995)
Corticotropin-releasing factor and vasopressin messenger-RNA levels in
Roman High-Avoidance and Low-Avoidance rats - response to open- field
exposure. Neuroendocrinology 61, 89-97.
Bignami G. (1965)
Selection for high rates and low rates of avoidance conditioning in the
rat. Anim. Behav. 13, 221-227.
Castanon
N., Dulluc J., Lemoal M., and Mormede P. (1992) Prolactin as a link between
behavioral and immune differences between the Roman rat lines. Physiol.
Behav. 51, 1235-1241.
Castanon
N. and Mormede P. (1994) Psychobiogenetics - adapted tools for the study
of the coupling between behavioral and neuroendocrine traits of emotional
reactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology 19, 257-282.
Castanon
N., Perezdiaz F., and Mormede P. (1995) Genetic-analysis of the relationships
between behavioral and neuroendocrine traits in Roman High-Avoidance and
Low-Avoidance rat lines. Behav. Genet. 25, 371-384.
Chaouloff
F., Castanon N., and Mormede P. (1994) Paradoxical differences in animal-models
of anxiety among the Roman rat lines. Neurosci. Let. 182,
217-221.
Charnay
Y., Steimer T., Huguenin C., and Driscoll P. (1995) [H-3] paroxetine binding-sites
- brain regional differences between 2 psychogenetically selected lines
of rats. Neurosci. Res. Commun. 16, 29-35.
Chowdhury
N. R., Gross F., Moscioni A. D., Kram M., Arias I. M., and Chowdhury J.
R. (1987) Isolation of multiple normal and functionally defective forms
of uridine diphosphate-glucoronyltransferase from inbred Gunn rats. J.
Clin. Invest. 79, 327-334.
Driscoll
P., Fumm H., and Battig K. (1979) Maternal behavior in two rat lines selected
for differences in the acquisition of two-way avoidance. Experientia
35, 786-788.
Dutsch
H. R. and Battig H. (1977) Psychogenetische unterschiede (RHA-vs RLA-Ratten)
im vermeidungslernen, offenfeldverhalten, Hebb-Willisms-intelligenztest
und be der labrinthexploration. Z. Exp. Angew. Psychol. 24,
230-243.
Escorihuela
R. M., Tobena A., Driscoll P., and Fernandezteruel A. (1995) Effects of
training, early handling, and perinatal flumazenil on shuttle box acquisition
in Roman Low-Avoidance rats - toward overcoming a genetic deficit. Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews 19, 353-367.
Fechtali
T., Rostain J. C., and Abraini J. H. (1993) Relationship between emotional
status and spontaneous behavior in rats exposed to high-pressure. Physiol.
Behav. 54, 1011-1014.
Fernandezteruel A., Escorihuela R. M., Driscoll P., Tobena
A., and Battig K. (1992a) Differential-effects of early stimulation and
or perinatal flumazenil treatment in young Roman Low-Avoidance and High-Avoidance
rats. Psychopharmacology 108, 170-176.
Fumm H. and
Battig H. (1979) Development of exploratory behavior in RHA- and RLA-rats.
Experientia 35, 920.
Giorgi
O., Orlandi M., Escorihuela R. M., Driscoll P., Lecca D., and Corda M.
G. (1994) Gabaergic and dopaminergic transmission in the brain of Roman
High- Avoidance and Roman Low-Avoidance rats. Brain Res. 638,
133-138.
Haney M.,
Castanon N., Cador M., Lemoal M., and Mormede P. (1994) Cocaine sensitivity
in Roman High and Low-Avoidance rats is modulated by sex and gonadal hormone
status. Brain Res. 645, 179-185.
Kulikov
A., Castanon N., Mormede P., and Chaouloff F. (1995) Cerebral tryptophan-hydroxylase
activity, and 5-ht1a receptor, 5- ht2a, receptor, and 5-ht transporter
binding in grouped and isolated Roman RHA and RLA rats - relationships
with behaviors in 2 models of anxiety. Psychopharmacology 121,
385-395.
Martin J. R. (1979)
Increased exploratory efficiency in a complex maze at estrus. Experientia
35, 923.
Pelletier
M. R. and Satinder K. P. (1991) Low-level cadmium exposure increases one-way
avoidance in juvenile rats. Neurotox. Teratol. 13, 657-662.
Siegel
J., Sisson D. F., and Driscoll P. (1993) Augmenting and reducing of visual-evoked
potentials in Roman High- Avoidance and Low-Avoidance rats. Physiol.
Behav. 54, 707-711.
Willig
F., Vandevelde D., Laurent J., Mharzi M., and Delacour J. (1992) The Roman
strains of rats as a psychogenetic tool for pharmacological investigation
of working memory - example with RU-41656. Psychopharmacology
107, 415-424.
INBRED STRAINS OF RATS
Updated 9 Apr. 1998
Michael FW
Festing
MRC Toxicology Unit, Hodgkin Building,
University of Leicester,
UK
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