Pro-social 50-kHz ultrasonic communication in rats: post-weaning but not post-adolescent social isolation leads to social impairments-phenotypic rescue by re-socialization.

ABSTRACT: Rats are highly social animals and social play during adolescence has an important role for social development, hence post-weaning social isolation is widely used to study the adverse effects of juvenile social deprivation and to induce behavioral phenotypes relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia. Communication is an important component of the rat's social behavior repertoire, with ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) serving as situation-dependent affective signals. High-frequency 50-kHz USV occur in appetitive situations and induce approach behavior, supporting the notion that they serve as social contact calls; however, post-weaning isolation effects on the behavioral changes displayed by the receiver in response to USV have yet to be studied. We therefore investigated the

SUBMITTER: Seffer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4416445 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature