Correlation between grooming and scratching behavior in BALB/c mice related to itch sensation caused by house dust mite allergen

Authors

  • Sylvia Anggraeni Doctoral Program of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia and Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia
  • Dinar Chieko Triesayuningtyas Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia
  • Anang Endaryanto Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia
  • Prof. Cita Rosita Sigit Prakoeswa, MD, PhD Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords:

grooming, scratching behavior, BALB/c, atopic dermatitis, house dust mite, tropical disease

Abstract

Background Self-grooming can be induced by stressful situations. External stimuli such as house dust mites (HDM) allergen can cause acute itch sensations that lead to scratching behavior. This pilot study compared grooming and scratching behavior between mice that exposed to allergen and placebo as well as the correlation between the two behaviors. Methods This experimental pilot study involved six to eight weeks old male BALB/c mice, divided randomly into 2 groups, 8 mice each. The first group underwent the treatment of patch and spray with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus allergen extract, while the second group was given placebo. The assessment for grooming and scratching was done on day 8. Grooming behavior assessed in this study consisted of total grooming chain with cephalocaudal pattern, grooming with non-cephalocaudal pattern, interrupted grooming bouts, body grooming, and total grooming duration. Results The amount of grooming activity (number of bouts and time spent grooming) and number of non-chain (non-cephalocaudal pattern) grooming as well as the scratching bouts were higher in HDM allergen group compared to placebo group. The agreement between two researchers for grooming and scratching evaluation was assessed and showed substantial to almost perfect agreement with ĸ ranged between 0.535-0.911 and p <0.001. The difference between two groups was significant for the scratching bouts (p = 0.017), non-chain patterned grooming (p = 0.022), body grooming (p = 0.014) and grooming duration (p = 0.008). The correlation between scratching bouts and total grooming duration, scratching bouts and non-chain patterned grooming, as well as scratching bouts and body grooming had high positive correlation. Conclusion House dust mite allergen increased grooming and scratching behavior in mice compared to placebo. There were positive correlations between scratching behavior and non-chain patterned grooming, body grooming and duration of grooming, which could indicate the anxiety or stressful situation caused by itchiness from HDM allergen.

References

Kalueff AV, Stewart AM, Song C, Berridge KC, Graybiel AM, Fentress JC. Neurobiology of rodent self-grooming and its value for translational neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2016;17(1):45–59.

Smolinsky AN, Bergner CL, LaPorte JL, Kalueff AV. Analysis of grooming behavior and its utility in studying animal stress, anxiety, and depression. In: Gould T (ed.). Mood and Anxiety Related Phenotypes in Mice, Neuromethods vol 42. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press; 2009. p. 21–36.

Estanislau C, Veloso AWN, Filgueiras GB, Maio TP, Dal-Cól MLC, Cunha DC, et al. Rat self-grooming and its relationships with anxiety, dearousal and perseveration: Evidence for a self-grooming trait. Physiol Behav. 2019;209:112585.

Maze Engineers. Mouse Ethogram: Self-Grooming Behavior [Internet]. Conduct science. 2019 [cited 2022 May 30].

Available from: https://conductscience.com/maze/mouse-ethogram-self-grooming-behavior/

Kalueff AV, Aldridge JW, Laporte JL, Murphy DL, Tuohimaa P. Analyzing grooming microstructure in neurobehavioral experiments. Nat Protoc. 2007;2(10):2538–44.

Wimalasena NK, Milner G, Silva R, Vuong C, Zhang Z, Bautista DM, et al. Dissecting the precise nature of itch-evoked scratching. Neuron. 2021;109(19):3075-3087.e2.

Tham EH, Lee AJ, van Bever H. Aeroallergen sensitization and allergic disease phenotypes in Asia. Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol. 2016;34(3):181–9.

Sarwar M. House Dust Mites: Ecology, Biology, Prevalence, Epidemiology and Elimination. In: Pacheco GAB, Kamboh AA (eds). Parasitology and Microbiology Research. London: IntechOpen; 2020.

Putera AM, Hikmah Z, Endaryanto A, Irwanto, Maramis MM. The role of house dust mite immunotherapy in Indonesian children with chronic rhinosinusitis allergy: A randomized control trial. Heliyon. 2021;7(3):e06510.

Nugroho WT, Ervianti E, Zulkarnain I, Nurul Hidayati A, Damayanti, Utomo B, et al. Characteristics of Atopic Dermatitis Patients who Underwent Skin Prick Test. Berkala Ilmu Kesehatan Kulit dan Kelamin. 2022;34(1):11–4.

Anggraeni S, Umborowati MA, Damayanti, Endaryanto A, Rosita Sigit Prakoeswa C. Correlation between Skin Prick Test and Specific IgE of Local Mites Allergen in Atopic Dermatitis Patients: an Indonesian Study. Chiang Mai Univ J Nat. 2022;21(4):e2022053.

Sihaloho K, Indramaya DM. Retrospective Study: Atopic Dermatitis in Childhood. Berkala Ilmu Kesehatan Kulit dan Kelamin. 2015;27(3):176–82.

Schonmann Y, Mansfield KE, Hayes JF, Abuabara K, Roberts A, Smeeth L, et al. Atopic Eczema in Adulthood and Risk of Depression and Anxiety: A Population-Based Cohort Study. J Allerg Clin Immunol: In Prac. 2020;8(1):248-257.e16.

Shimada SG, LaMotte RH. Behavioral differentiation between itch and pain in mouse. Pain. 2008;139(3):681–7.

Yamanoi Y, Kittaka H, Tominaga M. Cheek injection model for simultaneous measurement of pain and itch-related behaviors. J Visual Exp. 2019;151. doi: 10.3791/58943

Warrens MJ. Five Ways to Look at Cohen’s Kappa. J Psychol Psychother. 2015;05(04).

Weir L. Spearman’s correlation [Internet]. Statstutor. 2015 [cited 2022 Apr 6]. Available from: https://www.statstutor.ac.uk/resources/uploaded/spearmans.pdf

Song J, Xian D, Yang L, Xiong X, Lai R, Zhong J. Pruritus: Progress toward Pathogenesis and Treatment. Biomed Res Int. 2018;9625936.

Serhan N, Basso L, Sibilano R, Petitfils C, Meixiong J, Bonnart C, et al. House dust mites activate nociceptor–mast cell clusters to drive type 2 skin inflammation. Nat Immunol. 2019;20(11):1435–43.

Smith L, Gatault S, Casals-Diaz L, Kelly PA, Camerer E, Métais C, et al. House dust mite-treated PAR2 over-expressor mouse: A novel model of atopic dermatitis. Exp Dermatol. 2019;28(11):1298–308.

Tallett AJ, Blundell JE, Rodgers RJ. Endogenous opioids and cannabinoids: System interactions in the regulation of appetite, grooming and scratching. Physiol Behav. 2008;94(3):422–31.

Downloads

Published

2023-07-02

How to Cite

1.
Anggraeni S, Triesayuningtyas DC, Endaryanto A, Prof. Cita Rosita Sigit Prakoeswa, MD, PhD. Correlation between grooming and scratching behavior in BALB/c mice related to itch sensation caused by house dust mite allergen. J Pak Assoc Dermatol [Internet]. 2023Jul.2 [cited 2025Feb.7];33(2):579-86. Available from: http://www.jpad.com.pk/index.php/jpad/article/view/2178

Issue

Section

Original Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>