Buspirone increases social investigation in pair-housed male mice; comparison with the effects of chlordiazepoxide.

Effects of buspirone (1, 5 and 10 mg/kg, i.p.) on the behaviour of adult male CD1 mice have been compared with those of chlordiazepoxide (1, 4 and 8 mg/kg, i.p.). Commencing at 30 min after injection, the behaviour of each mouse was examined by ethological procedures during 5 min social encounters with an untreated partner in the animal's home cage and in the more aversive situation of an unfamiliar neutral cage. In both test environments, buspirone at 1 and 5 mg/kg and chlordiazepoxide (CDP) at 1 and 4 mg/kg increased social investigation and some of its constituent elements, while decreasing non-social activity and the element, "explore" (and for CDP, of "scanning" also). In both test environments, the increase of social investigation by buspirone and CDP was less marked at 10 and 8 mg/kg, respectively. For CDP, although not for buspirone, this effect was related to dose-dependent increases of immobility coupled with reductions of exploratory non-social activity and scanning below those occurring at the intermediate dose level. Buspirone at 5 mg/kg increased social investigation to a greater extent in the home cage (P < 0.01) than in the unfamiliar neutral cage (P < 0.05), whereas CDP was approximately equipotent in the two test situations. In the neutral cage, buspirone at all dose levels showed an additional effect of increasing the time spent by the mice in digging, whereas chlordiazepoxide dose-dependently increased aggression. These results indicate anxiolytic activity by both compounds after acute administration, and identify certain differences in the profile of their other effects on social behaviour.