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Effects of lithium chloride on the activity of rats tested alone or in pairs

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Abstract

Group-housed rats, injected with an acute dosage of 3 meq/kg lithium chloride, were tested on an activity platform either alone or in pairs 20 min or 3 h after drug administration. Contrary to previous findings, rats administered lithium were less active than those treated with saline after both post-injection periods. However the activity of the saline control animals tested alone after 3 h was considerably less than that exhibited by the same group after 20 min. This activity difference, which could be interpreted as a lithium-social or lithium-time interaction, is more simply explained in terms of the effects of the social isolation occuring between drug administration and testing.

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Syme, L.A., Syme, G.J. Effects of lithium chloride on the activity of rats tested alone or in pairs. Psychopharmacologia 29, 85–89 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421214

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421214

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