Vekovishcheva O Iu, Zvartau E E
Department of Psychopharmacology, St. Petersburg State Medical University, Russia.
Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1999 Jan-Feb;62(1):6-10.
The study was conducted on dominant and inferior albino laboratory mice united in small groups according to linear hierarchy. Naloxone, amphetamine, and 5-hydroxytryptophan were used in the pharmacological tests, estimating, respectively, the pain response in the hot plate test, motor activity in the actometer, and the appearance of the specific stereotyped "head-twitching" response. The dominant subjects were less sensitive to amphetamine and 5-hydroxytryptophan than the inferior of animals, whereas the effect of naloxone depended on the level of the zoosocial stress. Therefore, the rank of the animal in the group is the factor modulating the behavioral effect of the pharmacological agents and should be taken into account in studying the individual sensitivity to them.
