Environmental enrichment in the form of exposure to music seems to have positive effects on certain primate species. Hanbury et al. investigated whether exposure to classical music might help to reduce stereotypic behavior in Garnett's bushbaby (Otolemur garnettii). Experimental subjects, all of which were known to engage frequently in stereotypic behavior, were exposed to a Mozart concerto for 15 min per day for 20 days. The investigators video-recorded bushbabies and evaluated the frequency of stereotypic behavior and grooming. Bushbabies did not show changes in the frequency of either behavior as a result of exposure to music. See
page 122
The mouse is potentially a useful model for listeriosis research but is somewhat resistant to gastrointestinal infection with Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium that causes the disease. In previous attempts to inoculate mice with the bacterium, Sahaghian and colleagues found that anesthetizing mice with pentobarbital greatly increased the likelihood and severity of infection. In this study, they hoped to achieve a similar effect using isoflurane anesthesia, an inhalational agent that is safer than pentobarbital and more commonly used in rodents. Exposure to isoflurane, however, did not seem to potentiate listeriosis infection in esophageally inoculated mice. See
page 126
