Comparison of the effects of benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics on agonistic behavior in male mice

Abstract

The present study investigated whether there is any difference between the effects of benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics on agonistic behavior in male mice, using an ethopharmacological technique. Agonistic behavior was evoked using a resident-intruder paradigm. The effects of four doses of the following drugs were assessed in either resident or intruder mice: diazepam (vehicle, 1, 2.5 and 5 mg/kg, p.o.) and tandospirone (vehicle, 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg, p.o.). Residents and intruders were drugged on alternate test days, and all animals received different sequences of each of the drug conditions according to a random schedule. The injection-test interval was 30 min. When a resident mice were treated with either diazepam or tandospirone, the frequency of attack bite was suppressed significantly in a dose-dependent manner. When intruder mice were treated with diazepam, attack bites by untreated residents were significantly increased, whereas tandospirone was ineffective. Although diazepam caused a significant decrease in both locomotion and rearing, tandospirone did not cause motor dysfunction. These evidence indicate that tandospirone, a 5-HT_1A receptor agonist, has different pharmacological properties from diazepam.