Author(s)

Taryn G. Aubrecht^1*, Bachir Abi Salloum¹, Maria Eugenia Ariza², Marshall Williams^2,3, Brenda Reader³, Ronald Glaser^2,3, John Sheridan^3,4, Randy J. Nelson^1,3

¹Departments of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
²Departments of Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
³Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, Wexner Medical Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁴Division of Bioscience College of Dentistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.

Most adult humans have been infected by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a putative cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, and carry latent EBV. The EBV-encoded dUTPase can induce sickness responses in mice and chronic stress exacerbates this response. Because individuals often adapt to chronic stress, we tested the hypothesis that acute restraint stress would potentiate these sickness responses elicited by EBV-encoded dUTPase. Male CD-1 mice were injected daily for one or three days with either saline or EBV-encoded dUTPase. Additionally, mice from each condition were either restrained for three hours daily or left undisturbed during the light phase when mice are inactive. Restraint decreased weight gain during the one- and three-day experiments. Restraint in saline injected mice increased anxiety-like behavior in the open field during the three-day experiment. There were no behavioral differences during the one-day experiment. Restraint stress had no effect when experienced acutely on one day, but did produce a sickness response after three days of exposure regardless of saline or dUTPase injection. In contrast to the effects of chronic stress and EBV-encoded dUTPase on the sickness response, acute stress did not affect sickness responses in association with EBV-encoded dUTPase. Thus, dUTPase does not appear to provoke the same sickness responses after acute stress as compared to chronic stress.

Epstein-Barr Virus, Restraint Stress, Sickness Response, Anxiety-Like and Depressive-Like Behaviors

Aubrecht, T. , Salloum, B. , Ariza, M. , Williams, M. , Reader, B. , Glaser, R. , Sheridan, J. and Nelson, R. (2014) Restraint Induces Sickness Responses Independent of Injection with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Encoded dUTPase. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 4, 491-505. doi: 10.4236/jbbs.2014.411049.