Social play behavior in periadolescent rats in relation to later drug abuse

描述（由申请人提供）：在青春期前，哺乳动物表现出特定的社会行为模式，称为社会游戏行为或打闹游戏。社交游戏是一种自然的游戏，人们认为社交游戏对社交和认知发展至关重要。尽管它的重要性，社会游戏的潜在神经生物学机制在很大程度上是未知的。由于社会游戏是一种强化剂，自然强化和药物强化背后的神经基质可能在社会游戏行为的调节中也发挥着重要作用。有趣的是，青春期前后，也就是人生中社交游戏最丰富的时期，大致对应于个体开始尝试滥用药物的年龄。因此，研究滥用药物对社交游戏行为的影响可以达到两个目的：它将有助于阐明社交游戏行为的神经基质，并将显示围产期药物使用如何影响社交互动，从而影响社会发展。关于社会行为和药物滥用之间的关系，有大量的证据表明，反社会的人格特质容易导致药物滥用的发展。目前还没有太多的动物实验来研究这个问题。因此，本提案旨在调查1。药物滥用对青春期大鼠社会游戏行为的影响。大鼠社会游戏的奖励和动机方面的神经药理学;大鼠的个体社会特征是否可以预测随后的药物自我给药和冲动控制。本研究的目的是研究幼鼠社会行为的大脑过程，以及药物使用对幼鼠社会互动的影响。通过改变社会交往的质量，滥用药物可以对大脑和行为的发展产生重大影响。我们还将研究社会行为的个体差异是否可以预测随后的药物滥用的脆弱性，从而允许动物研究来调查众所周知的反社会人格特征对后来药物滥用的预测价值的神经和行为基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): During periadolescence, mammals display specific patterns of social behavior, termed social play behavior or rough-and-tumble play. Social play is a natural reinforcer, and it is thought that social play is of major importance for social and cognitive development. Despite its importance, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of social play are largely unknown. Because social play is a reinforcer, it is likely that the neural substrates underlying natural and drug reinforcement also play a prominent role in the regulation of social play behavior. Interestingly, periadolescence, the period in life that social play is most abundant, roughly corresponds to the age that individuals will start experimenting with drugs of abuse. Thus, the study of the effects of drugs of abuse on social play behavior can serve two purposes: it will help to elucidate the neural substrates of social play behavior and it will show how periadolecent drug use impacts on social interactions and hence, social development. With regard to the relation between social behavior and drug abuse, there is a wealth of evidence that antisocial personality traits predispose to the development of drug abuse. There have not been many animal studies to investigate this topic. Therefore, the present proposal aims to investigate 1. The effects of drugs of abuse on social play behavior in periadolescent rats, 2. The neuropharmacology of the rewarding and motivational aspects of social play in rats and 3. Whether individual social characteristics of rats can predict subsequent drug self-administration and impulse control. The present proposal aims to study the brain processes involved in social behavior in young rats and the effects of drug use on social interactions in young rats. By changing the quality of social interactions, drugs of abuse can have a major impact on the development of brain and behavior. We will also study whether individual differences in social behavior can predict the vulnerability to subsequent drug abuse, thus allowing for animal research to investigate the neural and behavioral underpinnings of the well-known predictive value of antisocial personality traits for later drug abuse.