Acute and chronic effects of three benzodiazepines in the social interaction anxiety test in mice.

The effects on active social interaction of acute and chronic dosage with diazepam (1 mg/kg), desmethyldiazepam (2 mg/kg), and chlor-desmethyl-diazepam (0.125 mg/kg) were studied in pairs of mice. The mice were tested under either high or low levels of illumination. In all cases acute drug treatment significantly reduced social interaction, but this was not seen with chronic treatment (9 days). Two of the drugs, diazepam and desmethyldiazepam, showed an anxiolytic action, i.e., these drugs resulted in significantly less variation in social interaction with the change in light levels, compared with vehicle-injected controls.