The influence of natural variations in maternal care on play fighting in the rat
Abstract
Naturally occurring variations in maternal care in the rat influence the sensitivity of offspring to stress in adulthood. The offspring of mothers that show lower levels of pup licking/grooming (i.e., low‐LG mothers) demonstrate enhanced responses to stress and increased anxiety compared to those of high‐LG mothers. Low‐LG offspring are also more sensitive to the influence of environmental enrichment than high‐LG offspring. This study examined play fighting in the juvenile offspring of high‐LG and low‐LG dams in a multiple‐play partners housing environment. Male offspring from low‐LG dams demonstrated a significantly higher frequency of pouncing, pinning and aggressive social grooming than did high‐LG males and high‐LG and low‐LG females. Consistent with earlier reports, male pups engaged in more play fighting than did females and maternal care was associated with differences in play fighting but only in males. Lower levels of stimulation in the form of LG from the dam during perinatal development may thus increase sensitivity for the stimulating effects of play behavior in periadolescence, in part explaining the increased solicitation of play fighting through increased pouncing in the male offspring of the low‐LG mothers. These findings identify a possible influence of variations in maternal care on play fighting and suggest that maternal care in the perinatal period influence social interactions during periadolescence. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 767–776, 2008
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Early-life experience can impact later levels of juvenile play in a sex-dependent manner.
“Early-life experience can also impact later levels of juvenile play in a sex-dependent manner (Parent and Meaney, 2008).”
From Sexually dimorphic role for vasopressin in the development of social play (2014) · cites this paper as Parent and Meaney, 2008
Males are consistently found to play more than females when tested in mixed-sex groups.
“While males are consistently found to play more than females when tested in mix-sex groups (Meaney and Stewart, 1981b; Olesen et al., 2005; Parent and Meaney, 2008)”
From Sexually dimorphic role for vasopressin in the development of social play (2014) · cites this paper as Parent and Meaney, 2008
Males show more social play than females when social play is recorded among cage-mates and under undisturbed conditions.
“Males show more social play than females when social play is recorded among cage-mates and under undisturbed conditions (Poole & Fish, 1976; Meaney & Stewart, 1981; Parent & Meaney, 2008).”
From Sex-specific modulation of juvenile social play by vasopressin (2013) · cites this paper as Parent & Meaney, 2008
The motivation to play can be modified by early experiences mostly derived from the mother.
“While the motivation to play can be modified by early experiences mostly derived from the mother (Parent and Meaney, 2008; Van Hasselt et al., 2012)”
From The rough-and-tumble play of rats as a natural behavior suitable for studying the social brain (2022) · cites this paper as Parent and Meaney, 2008
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“While themotivation to play can be modified by early experiences mostly derived from the mother (Parent and Meaney, 2008; Van Hasselt et al., 2012), once play begins at around 17 days of age, it takes about 10 days for the repertoire of tactics used during play to mature fully and this maturation appears to be little…”
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- Authors
- Parent, C. I., & Meaney, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Meaney, Michael J.
- Venue
- Developmental Psychobiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-10-07
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 767-776
- ISSN
- 0012-1630 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-2302
- OpenAlex
- W2049175274
- Semantic Scholar
- 0458098e1e796d62a71065305985c713be6fe2a9
- Cited by
- 175
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 12.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Developmental Psychobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- maternal care, play fighting, rat offspring, sex differences, periadolescence, social behavior, perinatal development, environmental enrichment, stress sensitivity, anxiety
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Agonistic Behavior, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Arousal, Female, Grooming, Male, Maternal Behavior, Play and Playthings, Pregnancy, Sex Factors, Social Environment, Rats, Long-Evans, Rats
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