The Relation of Social Position and Wounding to Exploratory Behavior and Organ Weights in House Mice

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Abstract
Two experiments suggested a relation between social status, organ variation and general activity. In the first experiment, 80 male PBR/St mice (Mus musculus) were observed for 3 minutes of activity in an open-field (arena), then paired and observed for dominant-subordinate formation, and 2 weeks later observed again for arena activity. The mice were sacrificed and the spleen, adrenals, testes, seminal vesicles and submaxillary glands were removed and weighed. Social position was difficult to determine and fighting and wounding were slight. Neither pre-pairing nor post-pairing arena activity showed a relation with social position, nor did organ weights vary significantly. In a second experiment conducted in a similar manner but with random-bred mice, social hierarchies were clearly evident. Subordinate animals showed significantly more body wounds and greater arena activity 2 weeks after hierarchy formation and also had significantly heavier spleens. Several measures suggest a strong genetic influence on activity. It was concluded that low status animals with body wounds are physiologically aroused and likely to venture into novel areas. This effect might in part account for emigration in populations and also influence the constitution of genotypes at different levels of density.

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