Abstract
Effects of longterm isolation housing on duration of pentobarbitalinduced sleep were studied in mice. The experiments were performed from the viewpoint of interaction between housing condition (individual or aggregated) and testing condition (individual or aggregated). The conclusions were as follows.(1) Duration of pentobarbital-induced sleep was significantly influenced by housing condition of mice. Individual housing shortened the pentobarbitalinduced sleep as compared with aggregated housing (2) Duration of pentobarbitalinduced sleep was also significantly influenced by predrug and/or postdrug testing condition (individual or aggregated) of mice. (3) Mice housed in individual condition were more sensitive to postdrug testing condition (individual or aggregated) in the effect of pentobarbital as compared with mice housed in aggregated condition. (4) The results support that housing condition differently influences on the arousal level of the central nervous system in the different testing condition. (5) The results suggest that the predrug and/or postdrug testing condition should be carefully considered in experimental studies of the influence of housing condition on the effects of drugs acting on the central nervous system in mice.
