Apomorphine-induced aggressive behaviour and post-mortem monoamine content in male Wistar rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the monoamine content in post-mortem brain samples of control, apomorphine-aggressive, and apomorphine-non-aggressive adult male Wistar rats. The repeated apomorphine (1.0 mg/kg, (s.c.) once daily during 2 weeks) gradually induced aggressive behaviour in 18 animals out of 24. No unidirectional changes in the brain monoamine contents in four regions (frontal cortex, striatum, hippocampus, and hypothalamus) were detected as measured by high pressure liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection. In conclusion, our present experiment demonstrates that the development and intensity of apomorphine-induced aggressive behaviour do not correlate with the brain post-mortem monoamine content.