Quality not quantity: deficient juvenile play experiences lead to altered medial prefrontal cortex neurons and sociocognitive skill deficits

Thumbnail Image
Files
Iwaniuk-quality-not.pdf(13.57 MB)
Date
2024
Authors
Ham, Jackson R.
Szabo, Madeline
Annor-Bediako, Jessica
Stark, Rachel A.
Iwaniuk, Andrew N.
Pellis, Sergio M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Reduced play experience over the juvenile period leads to adults with impoverished social skills and to anatomical and physiological aberrations of the neurons found in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Even rearing rats from high-playing strains with low-playing strains show these developmental consequences. In the present study, we evaluated whether low-playing rats benefit from being reared with higher playing peers. To test this, we reared male Fischer 344 rats (F344), typically thought to be a low-playing strain, with a Long–Evans (LE) peer, a relatively high-playing strain. As juveniles, F344 rats reared with LE rats experienced less play and lower quality play compared to those reared with another F344. As adults, the F344 rats reared with LE partners exhibited poorer social skills and the pyramidal neurons of their mPFC had larger dendritic arbors than F344 rats reared with same-strain peers. These findings show that being reared with a more playful partner does not improve developmental outcomes of F344 rats, rather the discordance in the play styles of F344 and LE rats leads to poorer outcomes.
Description
Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0) applies
Keywords
Cg3 pyramidal neurons , Development , Excecutive function , Plasticity , Prelimbic cortex , Rough-and-tumble play , Playfulness , Social skills
Citation
Ham, J. R., Szabo, M., Annor-Bediako, J., Stark, R. A., Iwaniuk, A. N., & Pellis, S. M. (2024). Quality not quantity: Deficient juvenile play experiences lead to altered medial prefrontal cortex neurons and sociocognitive skill deficits. Developmental Psychobiology, 66(2), Article e22456. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22456
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10133/6898
Collections
Iwaniuk, Andrew
Pellis, Sergio