Lipopolysaccharide administration in the dominant mouse destabilizes social hierarchy.
Sickness behavior is a set of behavioral changes that are part of an adaptive strategy to overcome infection. Mice that interact with conspecifics displaying sickness behavior also show relevant behavioral changes. In this work we sought to determine the role of sickness behavior display by a dominant mouse as a promoter of hierarchy instability. We treated the dominant mouse within a dyad with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (400 μg/kg, i.p.) for three consecutive days and assessed social dominance behavior. Since elder animals display increased inflammatory responses and the behaviors toward conspecifics are influenced by kinship we also assessed whether kinship and age, might influence sickness related hierarchy instability. Our results show that administration of LPS in the dominant mouse promotes social instability within a dyad, and indicates that this instability could be influenced by kinship and age.
University of São Paulo, School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, Neuroimmunomodulation Research Group, Brazil. dwhcohn@gmail.com
Daniel Wagner Hamada
DW
Cohn
Ilana
I
Gabanyi
Denise
D
Kinoshita
Luiz Carlos
LC
de Sá-Rocha
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D005190:Family; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D055809:Illness Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides