Increased aggression after rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in Wistar rats is not influenced by reduction of dimensions of enclosure.
Twelve female and twelve male Wistar rats were assigned to home groups, platform-control groups, and rapid eye movement sleep deprivation groups. The deprivation was performed with the cuff-pedestal method. Rats were tested in pairs in a shrinking chamber to increase proximity of the rats and to provoke interaction between them. An increase in boxing behavior was noted in the sleep-deprived groups. The result confirms that deprivation of rapid eye movement sleep increases aggressive behavior in the rat. However, this behavior is not influenced by the area of the testing arena. The sleep-deprived females explored each other more than the controls; the males' behavior did not differ in this respect. The amount of genital exploration decreased with diminishing area of enclosure, whereas boxing was not area dependent.
D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003441:Crowding / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology