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Marble burying is an animal model used in scientific research to depict anxiety or obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) behavior. It is based on the observation that rats and mice will bury either harmful or harmless objects in their bedding. [1] While widely used there is significant controversy over the interpretation of its results.
While Calhoun was working at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 1954, he began numerous experiments with rats and mice. During his first tests, he placed around 32 to 56 rats in a 10-by-14-foot (3.0 m × 4.3 m) cage in a barn in Montgomery County. He separated the space into four rooms.
The same study showed that another two weeks after ending environmental enrichment, the rats retained their visual acuity improvement. Conversely, rats in a standard environment showed no improvement in visual acuity. It was thus concluded that environmental enrichment reduces GABA inhibition and increases BDNF expression in the visual cortex.
First, rats were isolated, each to its own cage. In a second condition, the rats were still in isolation, but this time they had some toy, or enriching object in the cage with them. The third condition placed the rats in cages with each other, so they were receiving social enrichment, without any enriching object.
The cages are constructed and designed in a specific way to ensure an absolute microparticle free inner environment. This generally includes a cage bottom, a cage top (with a food hopper and water bottle holder incorporated) and a filter lid. It is also designed to allow maximum comfort of the animal and to provide a secure, chew proof environment.
Anxiety is closely related to fear, [3] which is a response to a real or perceived immediate threat (fight-or-flight response); anxiety involves the expectation of a future threat including dread. [7] People facing anxiety may withdraw from situations which have provoked anxiety in the past. [8]
Elderly Maine Coon cat resting on a bed, looking relaxed and comfortable. Image credits: southendpetsitting After 12 years in a rabbit cage and more time at a rescue shelter, Luna finally found ...
He noted that twelve rats is the maximum number that can live harmoniously in a natural group, beyond which stress and psychological effects function as group break-up forces. [citation needed] While posted at Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor, Maine, Calhoun continued studying the Norway rat colony until 1951. While in Bar Harbor, his first daughter ...