Effects of social isolation, re‐socialization and age on cognitive and aggressive behaviors of Kunming mice and BALB/c mice

Abstract Both Kunming (KM) mice and BALB/c mice have been widely used as rodent models to investigate stress‐associated mental diseases. However, little is known about the different behaviors of KM mice and BALB/c mice after social isolation, particularly cognitive and aggressive behaviors. In this study, the behaviors of KM and BALB/c mice isolated for 2, 4 and 8 weeks and age‐matched controls were evaluated using object recognition, object location and resident‐intruder tests. The recovery of behavioral deficits by re‐socialization was also examined for the isolated mice in adolescence. Our study showed that isolation for 2, 4 and 8 weeks led to cognitive deficits and increased aggressiveness for both KM and BALB/c mice. An important finding is that re‐socialization could completely recover spatial/non‐spatial cognitive deficits resulted from social isolation for both KM and BALB/c mice. In addition, age only impacted aggressiveness of KM mice. Moreover, isolation duration showed different impacts on cognitive and aggressive behaviors for both KM and BALB/c mice. Furthermore, BALB/c mice showed weak spatial/non‐spatial memory and low aggressiveness when they were at the same age and isolation duration, compared to KM mice. In conclusion, KM mice and BALB/c mice behaved characteristically under physiology and isolation conditions.