EFFECT OF THE ICV INJECTION OF 5,7-DI-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE ON THE AGGRESIVE BEHAVIOR OF DOMINANT AND SUBMISSIVE PIGEONS (COLUMBA LIVIA)

MIRTA SUSANA ISON; FACHINELLI, CARLOS CESAR; RODRIGUEZ ECHANDIA, E. L.

PHARMACOLOFY BIOCHEMISTRY AND BEHAVIOR

ELSEVIER SCIENCE Inc.

Lugar: Estados Unidos; Año: 1996 vol. 53 p. 951 - 955

0091-3057

The acute and chronic treatment with 5-1-ITP was reported to block the aggressive reaction induced by food competition in undernourished dominant pigeons. Such treatment was not effective, however, in submissive pigeons. In this report we describe the effect of the neurotoxine 5,7-DHT on aggression, defense, emotion, feeder control, and other behaviors in dominant and submissive maTe pigeons maintained at 80¼ of their normal weight. These were ranked through daily food competition trials. To obtain the prelesion scores dominant (n = 15) and submissive pigeons (n = 16) were submitted to a daily trial against a different intermediate subject (six trials). Then, the dominant and submissive groups were subcutaneously injected with Desipramine (25 vg/kg), anesthetized at a 60 mm interval and injected with 5,7-DHT into the left lateral ventricle (25 g/25 d 09¼ NaCT). After a 30-day interval, both lesioned dominants and submissives were confronted to a different untreated intermediate subject over six daily sessions (postlesion scores). Differences between preand postlesion scores for ah behavior studied were not found in dominant subjects. In submissive subjects, however, the postlesion scores of total aggression, defensive behavior, and emotional behavior were significantly higher than pre lesion scores. When brain 5-HT was assayed 60 days after injection about 34¼ depletion was found for both groups of pigeons. These findings suggest that the behavioral response to brain 5-HT denervation in pigeons is related to the behavioral characteristics of the subject previous to the lesion. 5,7-DHT  Aggressive behavior - Food competition - Undernourished pigeon