THE INTEGRITY OF THE SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN MICE FOLLOWING ADMINISTRATION OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS
British Journal of Pharmacology November 1, 1980 V. P. Poshivalov 23 citations
Mice living in small groups form a rigid, despotic social hierarchy that resists change even when psychotropic drugs are administered, making rapid pharmacological shifts in social rank impossible. Maintaining territory and social interaction are key to this inertia. Drugs such as diazepam, droperidol, and mescaline alter these factors to different degrees and vary in their ability to preserve hierarchy stability. Lowering aggression in a subordinate mouse does not change its social position. However, chronic administration of these drugs can eventually invert the hierarchy when a competitive rival is present, with the speed of inversion depending on the existing hierarchy type. The drugs' capacity to maintain hierarchy inertia may serve as an index of their effect on species-specific behaviors, particularly aggression.