ISOLATION-INDUCED SOCIAL BEHAVIORAL DEFICIT IN MICE AND ITS RELATION TO STIMULANT-DRUGS

The effect of stimulant drugs was studied in isolated mice on spontaneous motor activity and in the isolation-induced social behavioural deficit test. Amphetamine, atropine, caffeine, oxolinic acid and RU 24969 all increased significantly the spontaneous locomotor activity. The social behavioural deficit was reduced with RU 24969, unchanged with atropine and oxolinic acid, increased with amphetamine and caffeine. These results show that no relation exists between the effect of a drug on spontaneous motor activity on one hand and the social behavioural deficit on the other hand; they confirm the high specificity of the effect of agonists of the 5-HT1B receptors in the social behavioural deficit test; they suggest that an increase in the social behavioural deficit as elicited by amphetamine and caffeine may result from an increase in attention and anxious vigilance. © 1990 The Italian Pharmacological Society.