[Anxiogenic and anxiolytic effects of lithium chloride under preventive and therapeutic treatments of male mice with repeated experience of aggression].

Repeated experience of aggression in daily agonistic interactions is accompanied by development of changes in behaviors and psychoemotional states indicating the development of the psychopathology of aggressive behavior, which are difficult to correct by drugs used for decrease of aggression in the clinics. In this paper the influence of lithium chloride on the behavior of aggressive males in different tests assessing anxiety, communication and exploratory activity (elevated plus maze test, social interaction test, partition test), as well as aggressiveness (agonistic interaction test) were studied. Lithium chloride (Sigma-Aldrich Co, 100 mg/kg/day, i.p.) was administered preventively to male in ranging from the 7th day of agonistic interactions, as well as therapeutically to males with 21 days of aggression experience during the period without agonistic interactions. Also the effects of chronic lithium chloride treatment on behaviors of animals without agonistic interactions (intact mice) were studied. Period of drug and saline (as the controls) treatment--14 days. It has been shown that preventive lithium chloride treatment of male mice with repeated experience of aggression induced pronounced anxiogenic effect, under therapeutic treatment--nxiolytic effects. Anxiolytic effect was also observed in intact males. There is no effect of lithium chloride on aggression. Differences in the effects of lithium chloride under preveitive and therapeutic treatments, as well as the causes of individual sensitivity to the drug in male mice in one group were discussed.