Synaptic pruning during adolescence shapes adult social behavior in both males and females.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionarily conserved, peer-directed social behaviors are essential to participate in many aspects of human society. These behaviors directly impact psychological, physiological, and behavioral maturation. Adolescence is an evolutionarily conserved period during which reward-related behaviors, including social behaviors, develop via developmental plasticity in the mesolimbic dopaminergic "reward" circuitry of the brain. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is an intermediate reward relay center that develops during adolescence and mediates both social behaviors and dopaminergic signaling. In several developing brain regions, synaptic pruning mediated by microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, is important for normal behavioral development. We previously demonstrated that during adoles

SUBMITTER: Kirkland JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11758907 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature