Abstract
The present study analyzed the effects of chronic treatment with low doses of diazepam on body weight, defecations and urinations, vertical rears, the elevated platform test, and self-grooming in male rats exposed for 21 days to social isolation. The rats were treated for 21 days with diazepam (0.2 mg/kg, i.p) or its vehicle. Social isolation led to decreased body weight and vertical rears, more defecations and urinations, increased reluctance to step down from the test platform, shorter duration of grooming, and longer reluctance to start grooming. Chronic diazepam in individually housed rats produced increase in body weight and vertical rears, decrease in the number of defecations and urinations, and shortening of the time of reluctance to step down from the platform. The number of grooming bouts, their duration, and reluctance to start grooming were not altered by diazepam, but it decreased the percentage of incorrect transitions. The obtained data indicate that chronic diazepam treatment of socially isolated rats changes non-grooming behavior and some grooming behavior parameters. .
Highlights
Chronic stress has been found to affect different behavioral processes (Bowman et al, 2003; D ’ Aquila et al, 2000)
Diazepam in a dose of 0.2 mg/kg increased body weight in the control-group housed rats measured on days 7 (p
We studied the effects of chronic administration of diazepam, a representative of anxiolytic drugs, in a dose of 0.2 mg/kg on behavioral changes in adult Wistar rat males subjected to individual housing for 21 days
Summary
Chronic stress has been found to affect different behavioral processes (Bowman et al, 2003; D ’ Aquila et al, 2000). Social interactions are an important source of stress. Social isolation and acute environmental change are risk factors in human depression and represent a lack of social stimuli necessary to modulate adaptive responses to a new situation (Ishida et al, 2003). Benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam have been widely used as anxiolytics in human medicine. Self-grooming is a important part of the behavioural repertoire of rodents (Berridge and Whishaw, 1992; VanErp et al, 1994). In rodents, grooming is a complex process, with a rich rite consisting
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