Vibrissal anesthesia and suppression of irritable fighting in rats: A temporary duration of effect in experienced fighters

Abstract

Selected pairs of agressive rats fighting reliably and at relatively high levels were successively treated with lidocaine anesthesia of the vibrissal pads prior to each daily test session. The initial decrement in fighting was substantial, but after only three sessions pretest level of fighting was regained. Initial decrease in fighting of a second group following removal of all vibrissae was comparable to that produced by local anesthesia, but recovery of fighting to pret~st levels was slower and less complete. The results suggest that intact and functional vibrissal organs are not mandatory for normal fighting when Ss are given sufficient preliminary fighting experience to footshock. Applications of vibrissal sensory deprivation techniques for control of fighting in experimental designs calling for repeated measures or sequential treatments are potentially liable to confounding.Historically, investigators have long recognized the import of rodent vibrissal organs in providing proximal sensory information. Early monographs by Richardson (1909) and Vincent (1912) reveal interests stemming from reports of successful maze performance by blind and anosmic rats and the presumed interactive roles of the senses as defined by characteristics of the experimental task . Watson (1907) compared the maze performance of blind, anosmic, and normal rats before and after being devibrissaed . Although immediate performance was im paired, no decrement in running time was observed 24 h after being devibrissaed; Watson concluded that removal of the vibrissae had no effect when sufficient time was allowed for adaptation. Richardson (1909) also found that tactual sensation from the vibrissae was unnecessary after learning had occurred in a platform jumping task.More recently, Schiffman, Lore , Passafiume, and Neeb (1970) tested hooded and albino rats on a visual cliff apparatus providing both visual and tactual depth cues. Devibrissaed rats showed a marked preference for descent on the shallow side of the visual cliff, whereas intact controls showed no significant preference for either side. Rats apparently do not apply visual information unless forced t6 do so by a center-board height preventing vibrissal contact with the glass surfaces. Tactual information from the vibrissae may thus be prepotent over visual information on this depth-perception test. Schiffman et al (1970) suggested that visual discrimination on a number of visual tasks may be substantially improved by removal of the vibrissae.

Involvement of various senses in responses to individual housing in laboratory albino mice: 2.The tactile sense

“…On day 3, sniff latencies of the treatment category were similar to the controls. These results are in contrast to those of Thor and Ghiselli (1975) who found that the shock-induced fighting levels of experienced devibrissated rats never reached preoperative levels. Thor and Ghiselli (1975) found that experienced rats with vibrissal anaesthesia regained previous levels of footshock-induced fighting after only 3 sessions.…”

“…Little evidence is available on this paradigm, but Ghiselli 8i Thor (1975) performed an interesting study comparing shock-induced fighting in control, native blind, anosmic and devibrissated (with or without local anacsthesia of mystacid area) male 'hooded' rats. They found that both olfaction and touch were important in the control of shock-induced fighting in rats.…”

“…Afferent factors have also been implicated in the control of shock-induced, biochemically-induced and predatory fighting in the rat via a variety of peripheral manipulations including facial anaesthesia and vibrissal removal (Thor & Ghiselli, 1973;1974;1975). Katz (1976) has found that removal of the mystacial vibrissae plus anaesthesia of the vibrissal pad rcduced the amount of fighting shown by previously 'isolated' male Swiss albino mice.…”

Active Spatial Perception in the Vibrissa Scanning Sensorimotor System

“…Although we could not determine whether those animals had judged stimulus position before orienting, we note that refined rostrocaudal information is necessary if a rat is to orient rapidly following contact without further search. Although the current study does not attempt to characterize the role of angular perception during natural activity, we note that the vibrissae are involved in activities with complex spatial demands, such as navigation [14,44], aggression [56], and swimming [57] (for a general review of the classic literature, see Gustafson and Felbain-Keramidas [7]). This ubiquitous role suggests that these sensorimotor organs paint a richer picture of the tactile world than would be possible from binary detection alone.…”

Motivational systems of agonistic behavior in muroid rodents: A comparative review and neural model

“…The increased biting after isolation has been observed both in conspecific test situations [Hutzell and Knutson, 19721 and in response to human handling [Hatch et al, 1963;Moyer and Korn, 19651. Another motivating stimulus of the consociate modulator may consist of the high frequency rhythmic twitches of the vibrissae of the opponent [Komisaruk, 19701. They may function to identify the opponent as a conspecific. When these twitches are abolished by lidocaine anesthesia of the face, a rat is more likely to be bitten (ie, receive a lunge-and-bite attack) on the face during shock-induced fighting [Thor and Ghiselli, 1975;Blanchard et al, 1977b;Kanki and Adams, 19781.…”