Similar effects of ethanol and flumazenil on acquisition of a shuttle-box avoidance response during withdrawal from chronic ethanol treatment

1. Acquisition of a two-way shuttle-box avoidance response is facilitated by ethanol. This facilitated acquisition of an avoidance response to ethanol was attenuated during withdrawal from chronic-ethanol diet intake (i.e. tolerance developed by ethanol). The deficit in the avoidance task after chronic ethanol treatment could be overcome by increasing the dose of ethanol. 2. Flumazenil, a benzodiazepine antagonist, also facilitated acquisition of the avoidance response in control rats. This response to flumazenil was significantly reduced during withdrawal from chronic-ethanol treatment. This reduced avoidance responding during withdrawal also could be overcome by increasing the dose of flumazenil. 3. The benzodiazepine-inverse agonist, RO 15-4513, produced a deficit in avoidance responding that was antagonized by both ethanol and flumazenil in a dose-related manner. 4. To determine whether flumazenil has the properties of a benzodiazepine agonist, it was established that, unlike the benzodiazepine chlordiazepoxide, flumazenil did not enhance the ethanol-induced deficit in the aerial righting reflex. Additionally, flumazenil blocked the action of chlordiazepoxide in this procedure, consistent with the benzodiazepine antagonist action of flumazenil. 5. Data collected are consistent with the hypothesis that an endogenous substance with the properties of a benzodiazepine-inverse agonist antagonizes the anticonflict actions of acutely administered ethanol during withdrawal from chronic-ethanol exposure

Seasonality, resource stress, and food sharing in so-called "egalitarian" foraging societies

Most discussions of food sharing among so-called "egalitarian" hunters and gatherers implicitly assume that, because all adult members of a group participate in the network of sharing, all must therefore be receiving portions of more or less equivalent nutritional worth. This assumption is questioned and five basic points are raised: (1) because fat is not uniformly distributed over the carcass of an animal and because it is depleted sequentially when an animal is stressed, certain individuals may receive nutritionally inferior portions of meat, with potentially serious health consequences for the recipients during seasonal or interannual periods when other food resources are in short supply; (2) even when sharing is quantitatively and nutritionally equitable, food taboos may block certain individuals from access to meat and/or fat, particularly children, women at critical stages in their reproductive life, and the elderly (however, in the case of pregnant women, such food taboos and seemingly inequitable sharing practices may have positive as well as negative consequences for the health and survivorship of the fetus or newborn infant by keeping maternal protein consumption below about 20% of total calories and by reducing the mother's risk of exposure to potentially teratogenic substances that may accumulate in animal tissues); (3) skilled hunters may acquire nutritionally more valuable parts than do other males by "snacking" at kill sites and through differential sharing; (4) food-sharing practices and food taboos vary widely among foragers, and this diversity may contribute to observed differences among groups in fertility and infant mortality patterns; and (5) the focus of anthropologists on the sharing of food, especially meat, as opposed to the sharing of a broad spectrum of social, political, economic, and sexual rights and privileges, is an overly narrow and potentially misleading perspective. In closing, the paper briefly discusses the utility of the term "egalitarian," concluding that the concept, by conflating ideology with actual behavior, may obscure rather than enhance our understanding of the origins and adaptations of foraging societies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28530/1/0000327.pd

The Influence of Behavioral, Social, and Environmental Factors on Reproducibility and Replicability in Aquatic Animal Models

The publication of reproducible, replicable, and translatable data in studies utilizing animal models is a scientific, practical, and ethical necessity. This requires careful planning and execution of experiments and accurate reporting of results. Recognition that numerous developmental, environmental, and test-related factors can affect experimental outcomes is essential for a quality study design. Factors commonly considered when designing studies utilizing aquatic animal species include strain, sex, or age of the animal; water quality; temperature; and acoustic and light conditions. However, in the aquatic environment, it is equally important to consider normal species behavior, group dynamics, stocking density, and environmental complexity, including tank design and structural enrichment. Here, we will outline normal species and social behavior of 2 commonly used aquatic species: zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Xenopus (X. laevis and X. tropicalis). We also provide examples as to how these behaviors and the complexity of the tank environment can influence research results and provide general recommendations to assist with improvement of reproducibility and replicability, particularly as it pertains to behavior and environmental complexity, when utilizing these popular aquatic models. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. All rights reserved.A.V.K. research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant 19-15-00053. He is the Chair of the International Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium (ZNRC). This collaboration was supported, in part, through the NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA008748. The authors would like to thank Gregory Paull for sharing his photographs and insight into the natural habitat of zebrafish in Bangladesh