Clonidine-induced automutilation in mice as a laboratory model for clinical self-injurious behaviour.

Clonidine-induced automutilation in mice was investigated as a putative experimental model for human self-injurious behaviour. Clonidine (20, 50 and 100 mg/kg, ip) produced dose-related self-biting, causing severe automutilation in mice which had been isolated and food-deprived for 24 h. This clonidine-induced behaviour was significantly attenuated by pharmacological treatments which selectively augment central serotonergic or reduce central dopaminergic activity. Conversely, the clonidine effect was potentiated by pharmacological agents which selectively reduce or enhance central serotonergic and dopaminergic activity, respectively. Drug-induced alterations in central noradrenergic or cholinergic activity had no significant effect on the self-mutilatory behaviour induced by clonidine. The automutilation induced by clonidine in mice appears to be a good experimental model for human self-injurious behaviour, since the latter has been postulated to result from serotonin deficiency and/or facilitation of central dopaminergic activity.