title: Differential effects of restraint and novelty on the social behaviour of female rats.
abstract: In a previous work, we have described an increase of agonistic behaviour 24 h after a single 30-min restraint (RT) in female rats. The present work was aimed at assessing whether this effect was actually due to physical immobilization or was a mere consequence of the exposure to a novel environment (the restraining box in the experimental room). Dioestrous females were either left undisturbed in their home cages (Control), restrained (RT), or subjected to the same experimental schedule as the restrained ones, but placed in a living cage instead of in the restraining device (Novelty). Twenty-four hours after treatment, the social behaviour of the experimental females was recorded during a 20-min encounter, in a neutral arena, with an unfamiliar conspecific female in the same oestrous cycle phase. Novelty did affect behaviour, but in a way completely different from RT: while RT increased the frequencies of agonism and other social behaviours, novelty caused a selective decrease of agonism. The effects of RT on the social behaviour of female rats appear therefore to be specific and independent of those caused by novelty.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Università degli Studi, Via Laterina 8, 53100 Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Albonetti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farabollini