Hyperglycemia and fight-flight behavior in nondiabetic and diabetic mice

Glycemic responses to a resident-intruder encounter and to the drawing of blood from the retro-orbital sinus were studied in diabetic and normal male Swiss Webster mice. The diabetes induced with streptozotocin was either borderline, overt, or severe. The resident-intruder encounter consisted of a brief exposure to another male mouse trained to be aggressive. The blood collected was not sufficient (3% blood volume) to cause significant volume depletion. Behavior during the resident-intruder encounter was videotaped and later quantified. Borderline diabetic, overtly diabetic and nondiabetic mice responded to both procedures with significant increases in plasma glucose. The glycemic response to the resident-intruder encounter in these groups was significantly greater than that to the bleeding trial. The severely diabetic mice did not experience increases in plasma glucose in either test. Fight-flight behavior of nondiabetic mice was significantly correlated with increases in plasma glucose. Total activity was negatively correlated with change in plasma glucose in the borderline diabetic mice. In overtly diabetic mice no relationship between either measure and glucose increases was observed. These results indicate that plasma glucose elevation in overtly and severely diabetic mice is not as specific to behavior as in nondiabetic mice.