Effect of socio-environmental isolation on brain biochemistry, behaviour and psychoactive drug activity.

Isolation has been widely described to induce a strong aggressive behaviour in many animal species and especially in rodents. A deeper analysis of this altered behaviour induced by isolation, allows for the identification of several other changes involving numerous peripheral, behavioural and neurochemical functions. As a consequence of the manifold aspects involved in this experimental situation, the definition "isolation syndrome" seems to be much more adequate than the simplest definition of "aggressiveness by isolation". On this framework, some similarities with psychoneurosis in men are also suggested.