Comparison between BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ mice in tests of social behavior and resident‐intruder aggression

The behavior of male mice from two BALB strains, the BALB/cJ strain and the BALB/cByJ strain, was examined with a social behavior test and a resident‐intruder paradigm. Prior to testing, the animals were isolated for 0, 2, 5, or 10 days. In the social behavior test the pairs of BALB/cJ mice spent more time in active social interaction than pairs of BALB/cByJ mice, although the latter strain showed more locomotor activity. BALB/cJ mice isolated for 5–10 days, when tested in a familiar environment were more aggressive than mice from the BALB/cByJ strain. In the resident‐intruder paradigm, in which a resident BALB mouse was confronted with an intruder NIH Swiss mouse, the BALB/cByJ mice showed more social investigation in their home cage towards the intruders, but there were no significant differences between the two strains in the amounts of aggressive behavior exhibited. The results of these experiments suggest that there are some differences in the social behavior of the genetically related BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ mice. However, the differences appear subtle and paradigm‐specific.