Acute and chronic glue sniffing effects and consequences of withdrawal on aggressive behavior

Abstract

Drug abuse act on brain mechanisms that cause a high-risk individual to engage in aggressive and violent behavior. While a drug-violence relationship exists, the nature of this relationship is often complex, with intoxication, neurotoxic, and withdrawal effects often being confused and/or confounded. Glue sniffing is often a springboard to the abuse of more addictive drugs. Despite its high prevalence and serious consequences, we know relatively little about the aggressive behavioral effects of volatile inhalants abuse, especially glue. The aim of the present study was to investigate the link between the duration of glue exposure, a common substance abuse problem in Morocco, and the level of aggressive behavior during withdrawal. For this we used the isolation-induced aggression model "residents" in three groups of mice. The first group served as control resident animals (n=10, without exposure); the second group as experimental resident mice (n=10) tested before and after acute (first day) and chronic exposure to the glue, and at 1 and 2weeks of withdrawal; and the third group of 10 intruder animals. The results showed that the number of attacks decreased (halved) and the latency of the first attack increased (doubled) following acute glue sniffing. However, the effects of chronic exposure and of 1week of withdrawal led to an increase in the intensity of agonistic encounters. After 2weeks of withdrawal, the intensity of aggressive behavior decreased again. These results indicated that chronic glue exposure and the first week of withdrawal are associated with increased aggression in mice.

Keywords: Aggression; Agonistic encounters; Chronic withdrawal; Glue exposure.