Suppression of mouse killing and apomorphine-induced social aggression in rats by local anesthesia of the mystacial vibrissae.

Abstract

Local anesthesia of the facial epidermis can effect a substantial decrease in shock-elicited fighting of paired rats. The present experiments constitute methodological extensions to mouse killing and spontaneous drug-induced social aggression. In the first experiment, known mouse-killing rats were given bilateral lidocaine or placebo injections administered under ether anesthesia. Attack and kill latencies were significantly longer under lidocaine than under placebo; all subjects killed under placebo, whereas a third of all subjects failed to kill on the initial lidocaine test. On subsequent lidocaine testing, latencies decreased and nonkilling rats killed. In a second experiment intense apomorphine-induced conspecific fighting of rats preselected for aggressiveness was markedly reduced following lidocaine anesthesia. The comparative results of both experiments are interpreted in reference to theoretical assertions regarding the import of sensory information in stimulus-bound attack and the typology of central aggression systems.

Social and neural determinants of aggressive behavior: pharmacotherapeutic targets at serotonin, dopamine and ?-aminobutyric acid systems

“…Thus, the effect of nonspecific dopamine agonists on aggressive behavior may be in part determined by not only the dose of the drug but also the specific behavioral history of the individual. These conditions can also interact such that high doses of amphetamine, or amphetamine combined with altered levels of arousal such as during opiate withdrawal, can lead to heightened aggressive behavior (Hasselager et al 1972;Geyer and Segal 1974;Puech et al 1974;Thor and Ghiselli 1975;Baggio and Ferrari 1980). Decreases in rodent aggressive behavior following selective destruction of cathecholaminergic neurons or inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase have also been reported, but this effect on aggression appears to be due more to a reduction in norepinephrine than to any reduction in dopamine (Eichelman et al 1972;Ellison 1976;Matsumoto et al 1995;Serova and Naumenko 1996).…”

Tactile experience shapes prey-capture behavior in Etruscan shrews

“…In rats whisker are required in attacks on mice (Thor and Ghiselli, 1975), play a significant role in controlling maternal aggression (Kolunie and Stern, 1990) and both in aggressive and non-aggressive social behaviors (Thor, 1976; Blanchard et al, 1977; Sarna et al, 2000; Brecht and Freiwald, 2011; Wolfe et al, 2011). …”

An improved model of intraspecific aggression: Dose-response analysis of apomorphine-induced fighting and stereotypy in the rat

“…For example, a study by Thor and Ghiselli (1975) reported high levels of aggression in animals injected intraperitoneally with a 20-mg/kg dose of apomorphine. In our study, a l5-mg/kg dose of apomorphine yielded aggressive behavior no different from control.…”

“…These arbitrary procedures, especially the selective use of "high fighters," may have increased the probability of fmding a drug-induced reduction in aggression, in view of known rate-dependency phenomena. Finally, the data available on dose-response relationship are unclear, with a wide range of doses and routes of administration being used by different investigators (McKenzie, 1971;Senault, 1970;Thor & Ghiselli, 1975).…”