Long-Term Behavioral Effects of Post-weaning Social Isolation in Males and Females.

Deena M Walker,Ashley M Cunningham,Eric J Nestler,Jill K Gregory

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00066

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period associated with vast neural and behavioral changes which are accompanied by altered sensitivity to stimuli, both stressful and rewarding. Perturbations, especially stressful stimuli, during this period have been shown to alter behavior in adulthood. Social isolation rearing is one such perturbation. This review highlights the long-term behavioral consequences of adolescent social isolation rearing in rodents with a specific focus on anxiety- and addiction-related behaviors. Sex-specific effects are discussed where data are available. We then consider changes in monoaminergic neurotransmission as one possible mechanism for the behavioral effects described. This research on both normative and perturbed adolescent development is crucial to understanding and treating the increased vulnerability to psychiatric disorders seen in humans during this life stage.

Highlights

As individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, they gain sexual maturity as well as the cognitive, emotional, and social skills needed to establish independence from their parents (Spear, 2000)
Summary of Anxiety-Related Behaviors Taken together, these data suggest that social isolation rearing has profound effects on anxiety-related behaviors, as best as they can be inferred, in male rodents and subtle, if any, effects in females (Figure 1B)
Given that many of the behavioral tests for anxiety were developed in males and do not seem to be indicative of anxiety-like behavior in females, it may be that new tests need to be developed for testing the effects of adolescent social isolation in females

Summary

INTRODUCTION

As individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, they gain sexual maturity as well as the cognitive, emotional, and social skills needed to establish independence from their parents (Spear, 2000). Social instability stress (e.g., a stressor in which animals are housed with different cage mates over a period of time, preventing the establishment of stable social hierarchies during adolescent development) has been shown to influence depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors as well as reward-associated behaviors including drug preference in adulthood (McCormick and Green, 2013). This changing dynamic within the human population makes understanding the consequences of disrupted adolescent social structures critical, more than ever While it has been used extensively in the field to understand how early-life experience might influence adult behavior, there currently is no standard for the implementation of adolescent social isolation stress.

F M and F combined

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS