Ja. Saldivargonzalez et al., ENFORCED WATER DRINKING INDUCES CHANGES IN BURYING BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL-INTERACTION TEST IN RATS, Physiology & behavior, 60(3), 1996, pp. 823-827
The effect of water deprivation and water intake on experimental anxie
ty in rats was tested using burying behavior (BE) and social interacti
on (SI) anxiety paradigms. Two groups of animals were studied: a contr
ol group with free access to water, and a 72-h water-deprived experime
ntal group. Anxiety was studied in a water-deprived group or following
a 10-min period of ad lib water drinking. An increase in the mean tim
e of defensive burying in animals deprived for 72 h was observed, wher
eas an important reduction occurred in the levels of burying behavior
immediately after the animals were allowed to drink ad lib for 10 min.
These results suggest that the observed increase in defensive burying
in the water-deprived animals represents an anxiogenic effect, wherea
s the decrease in this behavior in water-satiated animals is considere
d an anxiolytic action. The temporal course of reduction in burying be
havior, observed after water drinking, revealed that the anxiolytic ac
tion lasts 5 min, whereas 15-30 min after drinking, burying behavior l
evels were similar to those in the control group. In the social intera
ction experiment a partial anxiogenic/anxiolytic effect of water depri
vation and water intake was observed. The adaptive meaning of anxiogen
ic and anxiolytic changes linked to consummatory behaviors in rats is
discussed on the basis of behavioral and biochemical data.