Early social isolation increases aggression and impairs a short-term habituation in acoustic startle reflex in rats

Abstract

Prolonged social isolation in early ontogeny leads to various changes in behavior and cognitive dysfunction in adult rats; however, data on the disorders are contradictory. In the present work, we studied the effects of early social isolation in Wistar rats by indices of psychomotor activity, aggression, anxiety, depression-like behavior, sensorimotor reactivity and short-term habituation of acoustic startle reflex. On the 24th postnatal day, rats were weaned from the dams and housed in individual cages for nine consecutive weeks. Animal behavior was evaluated at the age of one, two and three months. Immediately after weaning from the dam rats in the experimental group did not differ from the control on any of the indices. After four weeks of social isolation, rats showed an increased aggression in the social contact test. In rats isolated for an 8-weeks period, the increase in active non-aggressive contacts with a slight increase in motor activity in the elevated plus maze (EPM) accompanied increased aggression. At any terms of examination, isolated rats did not differ from the control in the anxiety in EPM, in the anxiety-phobic score, which is evaluated in a battery of tests, and in the duration of immobility which characterizes depression in the forced swimming test. Rats isolated for an 8-weeks period increased daily liquid intake by increasing the consumption of sucrose. After nine weeks of isolation, basal startle amplitude and prepulse inhibition that is, the characteristics of sensorimotor gating did not differ from the control, but there was a lack of short-term habituation of the acoustic startle reflex. Based on the data obtained, Wistar rats subjected to prolonged social isolation can be seen as a model of increased aggression with signs of cognitive deficits by indices of non-associative learning in the acoustic startle reflex.