Social experiences during adolescence affect anxiety-like behavior but not aggressiveness in male mice

Meyer, Neele; Jenikejew, Julia; Richter, S. Helene; Kaiser, Sylvia; Sachser, Norbert

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2017.03.017

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In male hamsters, social defeat either increased or decreased later aggression, depending on when in puberty the defeat occurred [22]. In mice, coping with challenge during adolescence in an escapable social defeat paradigm led to an increase in aggression and exploration, and a reduction in anxiety-like behaviour [23]. Among birds, zebra finch males housed in small groups during adolescence showed less courtship and aggressive behaviour in adulthood than did finches housed in adolescence as male-female pairs [24].…”

Section: Behavioural Plasticity During Adolescencementioning

confidence: 98%

The adaptive shaping of social behavioural phenotypes during adolescence

2018

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Developmental behavioural plasticity is a process by which organisms can alter development of their behavioural phenotype to be better adapted to the environment encountered later in life. This ‘shaping’ process depends on the presence of reliable cues by which predictions can be made. It is now established that cues detected by the mother can be used (primarily via hormones prenatally and maternal behaviour in the early postnatal stage) to shape the behavioural phenotype of her offspring. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that adolescence is another period in which conditions are well-suited for such shaping to occur. We review here how mammalian social behaviour may be shaped in adolescence. We identify limited extant examples, briefly discuss underlying mechanisms, and provide evidence that observed changes are indeed adaptive. We contend that while plasticity diminishes with age, the shaping of the behavioural phenotype in adolescence offers several advantages, including that adolescence is closer to the onset of mating than are earlier phases of life; that unlike earlier phases, information is obtained directly from the environment rather than mediated by the mother; and unlike later in adulthood, there is substantial underlying neural plasticity associated with development to support behavioural change. We also consider conditions that favour the occurrence of social behaviour plasticity during adolescence, including a high degree of sociality and a prolonged developmental period and the implication of these conditions for the occurrence of sex differences in the shaping process.

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Section: Behavioural Plasticity During Adolescencementioning

confidence: 98%

The adaptive shaping of social behavioural phenotypes during adolescence

2018

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“…These peer-peer interactions peak during early adolescence and decline to low levels after sexual maturation [3]. Both beneficial and adverse social experiences during adolescence in male mice influence anxiety-like behaviors [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], depressive-like behavior [8,11], and cognition later in adulthood [5,8,12,13]. A wealth of research shows that experiences during the adolescence period are critical in modulating these behaviors and ultimately proper neural development and function [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Neighbor Housing Environment Enhances Social Interaction and Rescues Cognitive Deficits from Social Isolation in Adolescence

Pais

Elmisurati

et al. 2019

Brain Sciences

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Adolescence is characterized by high levels of playful social interaction, cognitive development, and increased risk-taking behavior. Juvenile exposure to social isolation or social stress can reduce myelin content in the frontal cortex, alter neuronal excitability, and disrupt hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis function. As compared to group housed animals, social isolation increases anxiety-like phenotypes and reduces social and cognitive performance in adulthood. We designed a neighbor housing environment to alleviate issues related to social isolation that still allowed individual homecages. Neighbor housing consists of four standard mouse cages fused together with semi-permeable ports that allow visual, olfactory, and limited social contact between mice. Adolescent C57BL/6J males and females were group housed (4/cage), single housed (1/cage), or neighbor housed (4/complex). As adults, mice were tested for social, anxiety-like, and cognitive behaviors. Living in this neighbor environment reduced anxiety-like behavior in the social interaction task and in the light-dark task. It also rescued cognitive deficits from single housing in the novel object recognition task. These data suggest that neighbor housing may partially ameliorate the social anxiety and cognitive deficits induced by social isolation. These neighbor cage environments may serve as a conduit by which researchers can house mice in individual cages while still enabling limited social interactions to better model typical adolescent development.

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“…Different aspects of animal behavior, such as aggression ( Tulogdi et al, 2014 ; Zelikowsky et al, 2018 ; Agrawal et al, 2020 ), anxiety ( Meyer et al, 2017 ; Shams et al, 2017 ), or interaction with conspecifics ( Shams et al, 2018 ; Groneberg et al, 2020 ), are strongly modulated by an animal’s social context. In several cases, neuropeptides have been shown to regulate this behavioral plasticity ( Zelikowsky et al, 2018 ; Agrawal et al, 2020 ; Gemmer et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%