Adult rats · experimenter handling · 1963–2026

Handling Atlas

Does staff handling of adult rats lower stress versus leaving them unhandled? The map now includes the 2022–2026 conference wave: tunnel vs thoracic hold, playful handling vs pinning, and staff-training papers. Filter to that era to see what actually got measured.

Supports

7

CORT or related hormones fall with handling

Refutes

5

Handling raises CORT versus unhandled

No CORT change

5

Tickling and some protocols leave CORT flat

Mixed

10

Strain, axis, or cue splits the result

Filters

Era

Verdict

Assay

Handling

Precision

no CORT change1965197519851995200520152025CORT downPartial ↓NonePartial ↑CORT upHANDLING LOWERS CORTHANDLING RAISES CORTBarrett & Stockham 1963Seggie & Brown 1975Gärtner et al. 1980Dobrakovová 1984Dobrakovová 1993Gądek-Michalska 2003Balcombe et al. 2004Cloutier & Newberry 2008Costa et al. 2012Hori et al. 2013Cloutier et al. 2014Deutsch-Feldman 2015Stuart & Robinson 2015LaFollette et al. 2017LaFollette et al. 2018Cloutier et al. 2015Bigelow et al. 2023Burn et al. 2023Pedersen et al. 2023Bombail et al. 2021Kylie et al. 2024Bombail et al. 2025O’Malley et al. 2026Toyoshima, Hori et al. 2026LaFollette et al. 2019LaFollette et al. 2020Rinwa et al. 2024
Sage circle — supportsTerracotta square — refutesHollow — no CORT changeDiamond — mixedOuter ring — high-fidelity hormone assay

Papers in view

Adult rats preferred; a few 2022–2026 papers used juveniles or adolescents and are marked as such. Neonatal handling (Levine, Meaney) stays out. Verdict is coded against “handling lowers stress hormones versus unhandled / first exposure.” High-fidelity assays are plasma CORT, ACTH, HPLC catecholamines, or specified fecal CORT RIA. The post-2022 conference literature is mostly USVs and behavior — new plasma CORT tests of adult handling remain scarce. Curated map, not a PRISMA review. Mark size scales with citations.