Effects of repeated experience of aggression on the aggressive motivation and development of anxiety in male mice

Abstract

The sensory contact model allowed aggressive behavior to be formed in male mice as a result of repeated experience of victory in daily social confrontations. In individuals of the low aggressivity, high emotionality line CBA/Lac, repeated experience of aggression led to the development of anxiety, assessed in the elevated cross maze test. Males showed increases in aggressive motivation, measured in terms of increases in behavioral reactions to conspecifics in the partition test. It is concluded that repeated experience of aggression provokes the development of anxiety in male mice and that the level of developing anxiety, like its behavioral correlates, depends on the duration of aggressive experience and the mouse line studied.