Young adult female sprague dawley rats

Young-adult female Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River Labs, Raleigh, NC, USA) were used in the study. At the time of catherization surgery, the rats were 60 days old and had an average weight of 173 grams. The rats were singly housed at Duke University in a vivarium adjacent to the testing facility. Rats were housed singly to prevent catheter harness damage occurring by cage-mates. The animals were housed in standard laboratory conditions and kept on a reverse 12:12 hr light/dark cycle. A total of 13 animals were used in the study. All testing was performed during the animals’ “active” (dark) phase of the cycle. While in their homecage environment rats were allowed unlimited access to fresh water and once behavioral testing began were kept on a restricted diet of standard rat chow so that each rat's body weight was approximately 85% of ad libitum feeding levels. All testing procedures in this study were conducted according to AAALAC guidelines and approved by the Duke University Animal Care and Use Committee.

Young adult female Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River Laboratories, Raleigh, NC, USA) were use for the current studies. The rats started training at eight weeks of age and finished testing at 14 weeks of age. The rats were singly housed and kept on a reverse 12:12 hr day/night cycle (lights off from 7:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m.),. Rats were fed daily after behavioral testing to maintain a lean health weight adjusted for growth, and were given ad lib access to water. The rats were housed and cared for in conditions in accordance with university, state, and federal regulations.