VanRyzin Jonathan W, Marquardt Ashley E, McCarthy Margaret M
Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
Bio Protoc. 2020 Jan 5;10(1):e3481. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3481.
Play is a complex social behavior that is highly conserved across mammals. In most species, males engage in more frequent and vigorous play as juveniles than females, which reflects subtle yet impactful sex differences in brain circuitry and development. In this protocol, we describe a behavioral testing paradigm to assess social play in male and female juvenile rats. We highlight the behavior scoring criteria for distinguishing rough-and-tumble play from other play-related social behaviors. By analyzing both sexes, play behavior can be leveraged as a powerful tool to understand the sex-specific development and expression of social behavior.
玩耍是一种复杂的社会行为，在哺乳动物中高度保守。在大多数物种中，雄性幼崽比雌性幼崽更频繁、更激烈地玩耍，这反映了大脑神经回路和发育中细微但有影响的性别差异。在本方案中，我们描述了一种行为测试范式，用于评估雄性和雌性幼年大鼠的社交玩耍。我们强调了区分混战玩耍与其他与玩耍相关的社会行为的行为评分标准。通过对两性进行分析，玩耍行为可以作为一种强大的工具，用于理解社会行为的性别特异性发育和表达。
