Strain and sex differences in amphetamine-induced rotation.
Studies of rotational behavior in female rats have investigated Fischer, Sprague-Dawley, Madison, WI, and Holtzman strains. The present study of amphetamine-induced rotational preference looked at the most widely used of the pigmented strains, Long-Evans hooded rats, examining rotation in females and comparing rotational magnitude and direction to males of the same strain. We corroborate in Long-Evans animals the greater rotation of females, but our findings oppose the right-sided female and left-sided male rotational preferences reported in earlier studies. Only female rats in this experiment had a significant directional bias, and it was to the left. This result strongly points to the importance of strain in the lateralization expressed by rotation.
Storrie-Baker
H J
HJ
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Novotny
M F
MF
Crowne
D P
DP
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D004971:Estrus / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012399:Rotation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013045:Species Specificity; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*
D000661:Amphetamine