Andersson, Leif
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Texas A&M University
- Uppsala University
Research article2018Peer reviewedOpen access
Changes in brain architecture are consistent with altered fear processing in domestic rabbits
Brusini, Irene; Carneiro, Miguel; Wang, Chunliang; Rubin, Carl-Johan; Ring, Henrik; Afonso, Sandra; Blanco-Aguiar, Jose A.; Ferrand, Nuno; Rafati, Nima; Villafuerte, Rafael; Smedby, Orjan; Damberg, Peter; Hallbook, Finn; Fredrikson, Mats; Andersson, Leif
Abstract
The most characteristic feature of domestic animals is their change in behavior associated with selection for tameness. Here we show, using high-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging in wild and domestic rabbits, that domestication reduced amygdala volume and enlarged medial prefrontal cortex volume, supporting that areas driving fear have lost volume while areas modulating negative affect have gained volume during domestication. In contrast to the localized gray matter alterations, white matter anisotropy was reduced in the corona radiata, corpus callosum, and the subcortical white matter. This suggests a compromised white matter structural integrity in projection and association fibers affecting both afferent and efferent neural flow, consistent with reduced neural processing. We propose that compared with their wild ancestors, domestic rabbits are less fearful and have an attenuated flight response because of these changes in brain architecture.
Keywords
rabbit; domestication; brain morphology; magnetic resonance imaging; fear
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2018, Volume: 115, number: 28, pages: 7380-7385 Publisher: NATL ACAD SCIENCES
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Medical Bioscience
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801024115
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96325