Social isolation in adolescence alters behaviors in the forced swim and sucrose preference tests in female but not in male rats

Abstract Social interactions in rodents are rewarding and motivating and social isolation is aversive. Accumulating evidence suggests that disruption of the social environment in adolescence has long-term effects on social interactions, on anxiety-like behavior and on stress reactivity. In previous...

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Published in:	Physiology & behavior 2012-01, Vol.105 (2), p.269-275
Main Authors:	Hong, Suzie, Flashner, Bess, Chiu, Melissa, ver Hoeve, Elizabeth, Luz, Sandra, Bhatnagar, Seema
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	adolescence Adolescent stress adolescents adulthood adults Age Factors Analysis of Variance Animals Behavioral psychophysiology Biological and medical sciences Conditioning, Operant - physiology corticosterone Disease Models, Animal Female females Food Preferences - physiology Forced swim test Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Immobility Response, Tonic - physiology long term effects Male males phenotype Psychiatry Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology psychosocial factors Rats Rats, Sprague-Dawley Sex Characteristics Sex differences social environment Social Isolation - psychology Social stress Stress, Psychological - physiopathology sucrose Sucrose - administration & dosage Sucrose preference test Swimming - psychology
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Summary:	Abstract Social interactions in rodents are rewarding and motivating and social isolation is aversive. Accumulating evidence suggests that disruption of the social environment in adolescence has long-term effects on social interactions, on anxiety-like behavior and on stress reactivity. In previous work we showed that adolescent isolation produced increased reactivity to acute and to repeated stress in female rats, whereas lower corticosterone responses to acute stress and decreased anxiety-related behavior were noted in isolated males. These results indicate a sex specific impact on the effects of social stress in adolescence. However, little is known about whether social isolation impacts behaviors related to affect and whether it does so differently in male and female rats. The present study investigated the impact of adolescent social isolation from day 30–50 of age in male and female Sprague Dawley rats on behavior in the forced swim test at the end of adolescence and in adulthood and on behavior in the sucrose preference test in adulthood. Adult female rats that were isolated in adolescence exhibited increased climbing on the first and second day of the forced swim test and showed an increased preference for sucrose compared to adult females that were group-housed in adolescence. There were no effects in male rats. The results indicate that social isolation in adolescence produces a stable and active behavioral phenotype in adult female rats.
ISSN:	0031-9384 1873-507X