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Biomedical subjects

O D Murphree

Publications and source records attributed to O D Murphree.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Familial anthropophobia in pointer dogs?

This article assesses a dog model in terms of a proposed cross-species definition of phobia, the model referring to a strain of unstable dogs that has been produced by selection and inbreeding. The unstable dogs are contrasted with a strain of stable dogs. New findings are presented on approach and activity behavior toward three stimulus objects (man, another dog, and a sheet-covered chair) in a naturalistic setting. The fear response of unstable dogs to objects other than man habituates gradually, whereas the fear response to the sight of man is far more enduring, suggesting a relatively specific fear of man.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Baseline sleep-wake patterns in the pointer dog.

The 24-hr electrographic patterns (EEG, EOG, EMG) of six normal pointer dogs were recorded in a laboratory setting. Two states of sleep (slow-wave and rapid eye movement) and wakefulness (alert and drowsy) were identified. The total recording period comprised 44% of alert wakefulness, 21% of the drowsy state, while slow-wave sleep occupied 23% and REM sleep 12% of the time. The mean length of a REM sleep episode averaged 6 min and the mean REM sleep cycle was 20 min. The mean polycyclic sleep-wake cycle was 83 min. Sleep episodes averaged 45 min and the mean waking episode was 38 min. There was an average of two REM sleep episodes per sleep-wake cycle. The dog has a propensity to sleep over a 16-hr interval from 1300 to 0500 but the most sleep occurred between 2100 and 0400 hr during darkness.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Probenecid-induced accumulation of cyclic nucleotides, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, and homovanillic acid in cisternal spinal fluid of genetically nervous dogs.

These studies have been conducted on 40 dogs, twenty each of a genetically nervous strain and of a normal strain of short-haired pointers. The nervous strain after about age 3 months displays extreme hypervigilance, timidity, human avoidance, and often shows catatonic-like muscle rigidity when in the presence of humans or novel stimuli. Measurements of probenecid-induced accumulation of acid metabolites in cisternal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been carried out. Among the compounds measured at from 1.5 hr to 6.0 hr after probenecid treatment, homovanillic acid (HVA) was similar for the two strains, 5-hydroxy-indoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) was lower, but cyclic adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) were higher for the nervous strain when compared with age- and sex-matched behaviorally normal dogs. Probenecid levels in CSF were similar at all points in time from 1.5 to 6.0 hr after its intravenous administration in a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight. These findings coupled with previously observed differences in the two strains suggest that hyperresponsiveness of the central nervous system (CNS) noradrenergic and cholinergic systems and a hyporesponsiveness of the serotoninergic system are related to the genetically expressed aberrant behavior.

Animals↗