Abstract
Most studies on the effects of drugs on social and agonistic behaviour in laboratory animals have involved male subjects. In the present paper the effects of haloperidol and sulpiride on social and defensive behaviour of female mice are assessed using an ethopharmacological method that allows estimation of times allocated to broad behavioural categories. The most remarkable result was that immobility did not experiment any statistically significant increase in animals treated either with haloperidol or sulpiride. Exploratory behaviour was dífferentially modified by the two drugs: Haloperidol decreased social investigation whereas sulpiride decreased non social explo-ration. Results are related with previous studies (made with male subjects in a similar experimental setup) that suggested the existence of sexual differences in the behavioural effects of these drugs.
