Behavioural Alterations in Wistar rats induced by Mobile Phone Auditory Stimuli in a Controlled Setting.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/jlas.2026.9.2.4Keywords:
Behavioral studies, ethogram, mobile phone ringing, Wistar ratsAbstract
Researchers, staff of the animal centre, students and trainers frequently use their mobile phones inside the animal centre. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the effect of mobile phone ringtones as an auditory stimulus on the behaviour of Wistar rats. This study was conducted at the Medical Research Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Rats were separated into a controlled area and left for 1 hour before experimentation. The initial behaviour was examined for 10 minutes as the control. Rats were exposed to mobile sample ringing from 200-850Hz for one minute and the ethograms were recorded for 10 minutes. This procedure was followed for female and male rats (gender) and young and adult rats (maturity) under diverse housing conditions. After the intervention, the ethogram showed increased freezing and sleeping, and decreased walking and rearing behaviours. The study indicates that these alterations in rat behaviour upon exposure were independent (p>0.05) of gender, maturity, or housing style (single, pair, or group of four). This study con cluded that the results of behavioural research using Wistar rats may be affected by mobile phone ringing at the animal centre, which can induce stress or defensive-related behaviour.
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