Tube Dominance
Overview
The tube dominance test is a simple, robust assay for social hierarchy and dominance behavior in mice. Two mice are placed at opposite ends of a narrow transparent tube (approximately 30 cm long, 3 cm diameter) and released simultaneously. The mice advance toward each other and, upon meeting, engage in a competitive interaction: the dominant mouse forces the subordinate backward and out of the tube. The mouse that retreats from the tube is scored as the loser, while the mouse remaining in or pushing through is the winner.
By conducting round-robin tournaments within a cage group, a complete dominance hierarchy can be constructed. The tube test is highly reliable (>90% consistency across repeated tests) and correlates with other measures of social dominance including territorial urine marking, barbering behavior, and priority access to resources. It is increasingly used to study how social status affects stress responses, reward processing, and neural circuit activity in prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia.
ConductMaze interfaces with tube apparatus sensors to detect entry, meeting point, and exit events, automatically determining the winner and loser of each bout. The software manages round-robin pairing schedules, computes dominance scores (David's score, Elo rating), and generates hierarchy visualizations for cage groups.
Trial Flow
Load Mice
Place one mouse at each end of tube, hold with barriers
Release
Remove barriers simultaneously; mice advance
Meeting Point
Sensors detect mice meeting inside tube
Confrontation
Pushing contest; one mouse forces other backward
Exit Detection
Sensor detects one mouse pushed out of tube end
Score Bout
Record winner, loser, bout duration, push-back events
Next Pair / End
Next pairing in round-robin or session complete
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tube Length | cm | 30 | Length of the transparent confrontation tube |
| Tube Diameter | cm | 3 | Inner diameter (prevents passing without confrontation) |
| Max Bout Duration | seconds | 120 | Maximum time per bout before scoring as draw |
| Rounds per Pair | integer | 3 | Number of bouts per pair (best of 3) |
| Cage Group Size | integer | 4 | Number of mice in cage group for round-robin |
| Rest Between Bouts | seconds | 60 | Rest period between consecutive bouts for same mouse |
Metrics
| Metric | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Win Rate | % | Percentage of bouts won — primary dominance measure |
| Dominance Rank | ordinal | Rank within cage group based on win/loss record |
| Bout Duration | seconds | Mean time per confrontation — resistance persistence |
| Push-Back Events | count | Times the losing mouse temporarily pushed winner backward |
| Hierarchy Linearity | index | Landau h-index measuring transitivity of group hierarchy |
Sample Data
| Mouse_A | Mouse_B | Winner | Bout_Duration_s | Pushbacks | Round |
|---|
Representative data for illustration purposes. Actual values will vary by species, strain, and experimental conditions.
Applications
- 1Social hierarchy neuroscience — prefrontal cortex and synaptic plasticity in dominant vs subordinate mice
- 2Stress and social status — corticosterone, immune function, and metabolic profiles across rank
- 3Autism models — social dominance alterations in Shank3 and Mecp2 mutant mice
- 4Pharmacology — drug effects on competitive social behavior and motivation
- 5Housing and welfare — cage group stability and hierarchy formation dynamics
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