The effects of olfactory system lesions and food deprivation on spontaneous behavior patterns of male hooded rats

The behavior of normal male rats was observed in an exploration field in which a number of olfactory cues were present. Locomotor activity, freezing, grooming, sniffing, rearing and boluses dropped were quantified over days and correlations between them were obtained. Following olfactory nerve sections at the bulb surface or total olfactory bulb and peduncle destruction, the measures were made again and lesion induced changes in them and olfactory cue exploration were noted. After a period of food deprivation, the measures were made a third time to assess possible motivational factors on the results. Both lesions and food deprivation altered many variables with the deeply lesioned animals more affected than the shallowly lesioned animals. Possible interactions between partial or complete anosmia and lesion induced changes in reactivity were considered. Some problems associated with the production of and tests for anosmia were also discussed.