Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Brain Res. 2019 Jun 1;1712:217-223. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2019.02.012. Epub 2019 Feb 12.
In several rodent species social play appears to be necessary for proper deployment of species-specific patterns of aggressive and reproductive behavior. Specifically, in male Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), play has been linked to the development of adult aggression. We quantified several types of social play behavior in same-sex peer groups of Syrian hamsters three times per week for three consecutive weeks after weaning, which included postnatal days 22-42 (PD22 to PD42). Male hamsters increased playful contact during PD36-PD42, whereas females showed peak playful contact during PD29-PD35. These findings suggest that the motivation for social play increases during mid-adolescence in males, but dissipates in females. To investigate the effects of social play deprivation, one hamster per litter remained pair-housed with its mother forthree weeks after weaning its littermates. In adulthood, both play-deprived and play-exposed animals received acute social defeat stress followed by social interaction testing. Play deprivation led to increased defeat-induced social avoidance in both males and females. In males, play deprivation increased fighting back during social defeat stress, whereas in females it reduced aggressive behavior during conditioned defeat testing. We suggest that social play deprivation disrupts neural circuits regulating aggression in a sex-specific manner, perhaps related to sex differences in territorial defense, but has similar effects on neural circuits regulating stress responsivity. Overall, these findings suggest that juvenile social play functions to promote coping with stress and appropriate social behavior in adulthood.
在几种啮齿动物物种中，社交游戏似乎对于正确部署特定物种的攻击和生殖行为模式是必要的。具体来说，在雄性叙利亚仓鼠（Mesocricetus auratus）中，游戏与成年攻击行为的发展有关。我们在断奶后每周三次对叙利亚仓鼠同性同龄群体进行了几种类型的社交游戏行为的量化，包括产后第 22 至 42 天（PD22 至 PD42）。雄性仓鼠在 PD36-PD42 期间增加了嬉戏性接触，而雌性仓鼠在 PD29-PD35 期间表现出了嬉戏性接触的高峰。这些发现表明，雄性的社交游戏动机在青春期中期增加，但在雌性中消失。为了研究社交游戏剥夺的影响，每窝一只仓鼠在与其同窝幼崽断奶后与其母亲继续成对饲养三周。在成年期，无论是游戏剥夺组还是游戏暴露组的动物都接受了急性社交挫败应激，然后进行社交互动测试。游戏剥夺导致雄性和雌性动物的挫败诱导性社交回避增加。在雄性中，游戏剥夺增加了社交挫败应激期间的反击行为，而在雌性中，它减少了条件性挫败测试期间的攻击行为。我们认为，社交游戏剥夺以一种性别特异性的方式破坏了调节攻击的神经回路，这可能与领地防御中的性别差异有关，但对调节应激反应性的神经回路有相似的影响。总体而言，这些发现表明，幼年社交游戏有助于促进成年期应对压力和适当的社交行为。
