Drug-induced ataxia in opponents elicits "pathological" fighting in undrugged rats exposed to footshock.
M L Elliott, R J Sbordone
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior January 1982 DOI: 10.1016/0091-3057(82)90014-4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental animal study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Pairs of rats, one drugged and one undrugged opponent |
| Interventions | Mescaline Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) Pentobarbital Ethanol |
| Key findings | At high doses, mescaline, LSD, pentobarbital, and ethanol all elicited biting by the undrugged rat intense enough to injure its drugged opponent, whereas low doses produced species-typical fighting without biting. Biting attacks were highly correlated with the drugged rat's ataxic behavior, and the authors suggest drug-induced ataxia may disinhibit mechanisms regulating intra-species behavior, producing behavior more typical of inter-species aggression. |
Abstract
One member of a pair of rats was administered either mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), pentobarbital, or ethanol intraperitoneally twenty minutes prior to exposure to footshock in the presence of an undrugged opponent. At high doses, all drugs elicited biting from the undrugged rat of sufficient intensity to produce injury to its drugged opponent. Low doses produced species-typical fighting behavior which consisted of striking each other with their forepaws while upright and failed to elicit biting. Biting attacks by the undrugged rat were highly correlated with ataxic behavior by the drugged rat. Conversely, species-typical aggressive behavior was highly correlated with behaviors such as boxing or upright threat posture. These results suggest that drug-induced ataxic behavior may disinhibit mechanisms that regulate intra-species behavior, thus producing behavior that is more typical of inter-species aggression.