Serotonin transporter deficiency alters socioemotional ultrasonic communication in rats.

ABSTRACT: It has been widely established that serotonin plays important role in the regulation of emotional and social behaviour. Rodents with a genetic deletion of the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) are used as a model to study lifelong consequences of increased extracellular 5-HT levels due to its impaired reuptake. SERT knock-out (SERT-KO) mice and rats consistently showed anxiety-like symptoms and social deficits. Nevertheless, the impact of SERT deletion on socioemotional ultrasonic communication has not been addressed. Here we investigated the impact of lifelong serotonin abundance on ultrasonic vocalisation accompanying social interactions and open field exploration in rats. SERT-KO rats displayed reduced overall duration of social contacts, but increased time spent on following the co

SUBMITTER: Golebiowska J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6937290 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature