Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 67, Issue 5, November 1999, Pages 769-775
Physiology & Behavior

Articles
Social Stress Effects on Territorial Marking and Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(99)00131-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Acute social defeat (SD) leads to transient and persistent physiological and behavioral changes. We examined the effects of acute SD on territorial urine marking and ultrasonic courtship vocalizations in DBA/2 male mice. Both behaviors are considered androgen dependent and are influenced by social status, with dominant mice displaying more of both behaviors. In Experiment 1, male mice that received SD displayed prolonged inhibition of territorial urine marking, relative to nondefeated control mice (NOSD). In addition, territorial marking increased with repeated tests. In Experiment 2, male mice that received 3 successive days of SD displayed fewer ultrasonic courtship vocalizations at 30 min. post-SD1 and 30 min. post-SD2, relative to NOSD mice. In Experiment 2, we also observed decreased territorial marking 4 weeks post-SD. In sum, SD induced prolonged inhibition of territorial marking, but had only transient effects on ultrasonic courtship vocalizations, suggesting that different mechanisms may mediate the maintenance of these behaviors.

Section snippets

General methods

Research was conducted in compliance with the Animal Care Welfare Act, and other federal statutes and regulations relating to animals and experiments involving animals and adheres to principles in the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, National Research Council, National Academic Press, Washington, DC, 1996.

Procedure

Because there is individual variability in territorial urine marking, subjects were prescreened for baseline urine marking. Ten of 15 mice displayed high marking levels during a baseline test, and were pair matched with another male with similar marking levels. The other five mice were excluded from the experiment. One member of each of the five subject pairs received SD. The other members of each pair did not receive SD, and served as control mice (NOSD). Twenty-four hours following SD or

Procedure

Mice received 8 days of social experience and were prescreened for ultrasonic courtship vocalizations. As in Experiment 1, mice (n = 22) were pair matched using their baseline territorial urine marking as matching criterion. Eleven mice received repeated SD, and 11 mice were not exposed to SD. SD mice received 3 successive days of SD, and were tested for ultrasonic courtship vocalizations to female cage bedding 30-min post-SD on each of the 3 days. In addition, mice were tested for ultrasonic

General discussion

There is a striking relationship between social dominance and the occurrence of male-typical androgen-dependent behaviors in house mice. For example, dominant males are more aggressive than subordinates, establish and defend territories (13), and sire more offspring (15). We currently report a prolonged decrease in territorial urine marking and a transient decrease in ultrasonic courtship vocalizations following SD. Mice that received acute SD displayed significantly less territorial urine

Acknowledgements

Lucille A. Lumley, Ph.D., was supported as a National Research Council Fellow. The authors thank George A. Saviolakis, M.D., Ph.D., for editorial comments, and Denise Morton and Lily Lin for their excellent assistance in quantifying urine markings and/or ultrasonic vocalizations. Intramural research was funded by U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command. The views of the authors do not purport to reflect the position of the Dept. of the Army or the Dept. of Defense (paragraph 4-3), AR

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