Phenotypic variability between Social Dominance Ranks in laboratory mice
Open accessAbstract
The laboratory mouse is the most prevalent animal used in experimental procedures in the biomedical and behavioural sciences. Yet, many scientists fail to consider the animals’ social context. Within a cage, mice may differ in their behaviour and physiology depending on their dominance relationships. Therefore, dominance relationships may be a confounding factor in animal experiments. The current study housed male and female C57BL/6ByJ mice in same-sex groups of 5 in standard laboratory conditions and investigated whether dominance hierarchies were present and stable across three weeks, and whether mice of different dominance ranks varied consistently in behaviour and physiology. We found that dominance ranks of most mice changed with time, but were most stable between the 2 nd and 3 rd week of testing. Phenotypic measures were also highly variable, and we found no relation between dominance rank and phenotype. Further, we found limited evidence that variation in measures of phenotype was associated with cage assignment for either males or females. Taken together, these findings do not lend support to the general assumption that individual variation among mice is larger between cages than within cages.
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Two extreme kinds of social structure are possible: subordinate animals can form transitive dominance relationships (linear dominance hierarchy) or be equal to each other (uniform, despotic group with one dominant).
“Within this basic picture, two extreme kinds of social structure are possible: the subordinate animals can form transitive dominance relationships between them (which results in linear dominance hierarchy, that is, Reference 96), or be equal to each other (comprising uniform, despotic group with one dominant, that is, Reference 97).”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [97]
In some studies subordinate mice form linear hierarchies, while in others ranking is more despotic.
“In some studies the subordinates form linear hierarchies, 136,138,141 while in others ranking is more despotic.80,97,142”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [97]
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Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice
Kondrakiewicz, K., Kostecki, M., Szadzińska, W., & Knapska, E. (2019) · Genes, Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1111/gbb.12525 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
- Authors
- Varholick, J. A., Bailoo, J. D., Palme, R., & Würbel, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Bern (CH)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Varholick, Justin A.
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2018-04-26
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 6593-6593
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5920077
- OpenAlex
- W2801036063
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 5.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- European Commission (2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007)
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (322576)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- social dominance hierarchy, laboratory mice, phenotypic variability, sex differences
- MeSH terms
- Biological Variation, Population, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Glucocorticoids, Male, Phenotype, Social Dominance, Body Mass Index, Maze Learning, Mice
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