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Cited by 13Stress Responses and CortisolNeuroendocrine regulation and behaviorAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies

Brief periods of positive peer interactions mitigate the effects of total social isolation in young Octodon degus

Colonnello, Valentina, Iacobucci, Paolo, Anderson, Mary Patricia, Panksepp, Jaak·2011·Developmental Psychobiology
DOI 10.1002/dev.20520
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Abstract

We investigated whether positive daily peer-interactions counteract the effects of isolation in Octodon degus. Twenty-five-day-old degus were either isolated (ISO), socially housed (SOCIAL), or isolated and allowed 1-hr daily peer interaction (PARTIAL-ISO). The animals were observed over 4 weeks. Just prior to isolation and after 2 weeks of individual housing, the subjects were assessed for response to pleasant stimuli via a sucrose preference test and to fearful situations in open field and startle tests. Two weeks after the previous tests, the subjects were retested as above and observed in novelty and sociability tests. Only the ISO group showed significant alterations in sensitivity to reward and increased risk-taking behavior in fearful situations. The ISO group consumed more sucrose, spent less time freezing in the startle test and exhibited increased exploration in open field and novelty tests compared to PARTIAL-ISO and SOCIAL groups. In the sociability test, the SOCIAL group vocalized more than the other two groups during encounters with an unfamiliar degus. Our findings suggest that (i) chronic isolation induces alteration of hedonic, emotional and social profiles, with a maturational delay in fear-related responses; (ii) friendly interaction attenuates most behavioral changes induced by total social isolation. However, the positive effects of daily social interactions did not fully counteract deficits in social vocalizations. Our study represents one of the few available studies focused not only on the consequences of negative life events in this species, but also the protective role of relatively short periods of positive social activity on subsequent emotional development. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 53:280-290, 2011.

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  • Social isolation generally increases sucrose preference in rodents, though some studies report discrepant results.

    “In tasks measuring liking, social isolation generally results in increased sucrose preference (Brenes and Fornaguera, 2008, 2009; Colonnello et al., 2011; Hall et al., 1998a; Van den Berg et al., 2000), although there are some discrepant reports (McCool and Chappell, 2009; Pisu et al., 2011).”

    From The effects of early life stress on reward processing (2018) · cites this paper as Colonnello et al., 2011

  • A preponderance of evidence indicates that rodents subjected to post-weaning social isolation show increased hedonic behavior.

    “As shown in Table 1, a preponderance of the evidence suggests that rodents subjected to post-weaning isolation demonstrate increased hedonic behavior.”

    From The effects of early life stress on reward processing (2018) · cites this paper as Colonnello et al., 2011

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Authors
Colonnello, V., Iacobucci, P., Anderson, M. P., & Panksepp, J.
Affiliations
Washington State University (US)
Corresponding author
Panksepp, Jaak
ORCID
Colonnello, Valentina
Venue
Developmental Psychobiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2010-12-22
Volume
53
Issue
3
Pages
280-290
ISSN
  • 0012-1630 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-2302
DOI
10.1002/dev.20520
OpenAlex
W2061414124
Cited by
13
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
0.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Developmental Psychobiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion)
  • FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
Keywords
social isolation, Octodon degus, social housing, sucrose preference, reward sensitivity, fear response, startle response, novelty exploration, sociability, social vocalizations, emotional development, early life stress
MeSH terms
Affect, Analysis of Variance, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Exploratory Behavior, Fear, Female, Male, Peer Group, Social Behavior, Social Isolation, Reflex, Startle, Octodon, Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic

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