Open-field social behavior of rats following lateral or medial septal lesions

The effects of septal lesion on the open-field social behavior of Sprague-Dawley albino rats

“…The design of the present study was similar to that reported by Jonason and Enloe (1971) and Poplawsky and Johnson (1973). Twenty male Sprague-Dawley albino rats were received in the lab at 70 days of age.…”

“…Procedures used to record contact time were the same as those reported by Jonason and Enloe (1971) and were essentially the same as those used in all the above studies , except that Poplawsky and Johnson (1973) used 15-min instead of 5-min observation periods. Both pair members were placed in the Latane openfield, and cumulative time spent in any physical contact during the 5-min observation period was recorded.…”

“…Previous studies in our laboratory (Johnson, Spiker & Carlson, 1984;Poplawsky & Johnson, 1973) as well as a number of studies at Ohio State (Jonason & Enloe, 1971;Meyer, Ruth, & Lavond, 1978), have demonstrated that lesions of the septal forebrain in Long-Evans hooded rats result in a marked increase in open-field gregariousness (contact time). Increased contact time has also been observed in adult animals following septal lesions produced in 7-day-old infant Long-Evans rats (Johnson , 1972).…”

Effects of septal lesions on social attraction in two subspecies of deer mouse

“…Several investigators have recently reported that pairs of hooded rats sustaining septal damage evidence heightened social attraction as measured by increased body contact time and decreased average interrat distance (Jonason & Enloe, 1971;Jonason, Enloe, Contrucci, & Meyer, 1973;Poplawsky & Johnson, 1973). These authors suggest that the increased sociability of the lesioned animals arises from a perseverative tendency to engage in prepotent behavior patterns-an explanation consistent with the strong tendency toward contact sociability in undamaged rats (Latane, Nesbitt, Eckman, & Rodin, 1972) and with the findings of numerous operant experiments reporting response perseveration following septal lesions (McCleary, 1966).…”

Effects of septal lesions on open-field gregariousness in rats reared prior to surgery in group versus individual cages

“…Previous researach has clearly demonstrated that openfield contact time in rats is markedly increased by septal lesions (Johnson, 1972;Jonason & Enloe, 1971;Poplawsky & Johnson, 1973). Animal behavior studies have also demonstrated that when animals are housed in isolation for several weeks prior to observation in the open field, contact times are increased (e.g., Latane, Nesbitt, Eckman, & Rodin, 1972).…”