Abstract
Hooded rats in a social colony were given increasing daily doses of d-amphetamine up to 8 mg/kg. Time-lapse 16 mm cinematographically recorded behavior was analyzed for the following: grooming, feeding, sex, sleeping, resting, stereotypy, agonistic behavior, muricidal activity, and the location and movement of each rat. Subordinant rats receiving d-amphetamine actively withdrew from social interactions by retreating to strategically defensible locations in the environment. They remained hypervigilant of other rats and overreacted to their approaches by either fleeing or by defensively rearing and “boxing”. On the other hand, when the dominant rat received the maximum dose, it seemed totally oblivious to the other rats. The responses to drug treatment in subordinant rats may provide a model for the social behavior of frightened paranoid schizophrenics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bell, D. S.: The experimental reproduction of amphetamine psychosis. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 29, 35–40 (1973)
Calhoun, J. B.: The ecology and sociology of the norway rat, p. 125. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office 1962
Carranza-Acevedo, J., Ortega-Corona, B. G., Ordonez, S., Castro-Osuna, G.: Cambios en la conducta producidos por la administration chronica de d. anfetamina en ratones. Arch. Invest. Med. (Mex.) 1, 221–226 (1970)
Chance, M. R. A., Silverman, A. P.: The structure of social behavior and drug action. In: Animal behavior and drug action, pp. 65–79. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1964
Crowley, T. J.: Dose-dependent facilitation or suppression of rat fighting by methamphetamine, phenobarbital, or imipramine. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 27, 213–222 (1972)
Ellinwood, E. H., Jr., Sudilovsky, A., Nelson, L. M.: Evolving behavior in the clinical and experimental amphetamine (model) psychosis. Amer. J. Psychiat. 130, 1088–1092 (1973)
Greene, M. H., DuPont, R. L., Rubenstein, R. M.: Amphetamines in the district of Columbia. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 29, 773–776 (1973)
Griffith, J. D., Cavanaugh, J. H., Oates, J. A.: Psychosis induced by the administration of d-amphetamine to human volunteers. In: Psychotomimetic drugs, D. Efron, ed., pp. 287–294. New York: Ravens Press 1970
Inderbitzin, L. B., Buchsbaum, M., Silverman, J.: EEG-averaged evoked response and perceptual variability in schizophrenics. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 23, 438–444 (1970)
Kirkby, R. J., Bell, D. S., Preston, A. C.: The effects of methylamphetamine on stereotyped behavior, activity, startle, and orienting responses. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 25, 41–48 (1972)
Kornetsky, C., Mirsky, A.: On certain psychopharmacological and physiological differences between schizophrenic and normal persons. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 8, 309–318 (1966)
Machiyama, Y., Utena, H., Kikuchi, M.: Behavioral disorders in Japanese monkeys produced by the long-term administration of methamphetamine. Proc. Jap. Acad. 46, 738–743 (1970)
Oliverio, A., Eleftheriou, B. E., Bailey, D. W.: Exploratory activity: genetic analysis of its modification by scopolamine and amphetamine. Physiol. Behav. 10, 893–899 (1973)
Richardson, D., Karczmar, A. G., Scudder, C. L.: Intergeneric behavioral differences among methamphetamine treated mice. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 25, 347–375 (1972)
Snyder, S. H.: Catecholamines in the brain as mediators of amphetamine psychosis. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 27, 169–179 (1972)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
NIMH Research Scientist awardee MH 1759
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gambill, J.D., Kornetsky, C. Effects of chronic d-amphetamine on social behavior of the rat: Implications for an animal model of paranoid schizophrenia. Psychopharmacology 50, 215–223 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00426835
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00426835