Cited by 20Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorSexual Differentiation and DisordersAutism Spectrum Disorder Research

Hormonal programming of rat social play behavior: Standardized techniques will aid synthesis and translation to human health

Blake, Bevin E., McCoy, Krista A.·2015·Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Abstract

Early social behaviors like juvenile play are important for normal cognitive and social development. Deficits in these behaviors are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism. Rat juvenile rough-and-tumble play is a useful behavioral biomarker of neurodevelopment, and is sensitive to chemical factors such as pre and neonatal hormones. Despite a rich body of literature characterizing hormonal programming of rodent juvenile play, the physiological mechanisms that regulate the organization of play behavior are not well characterized. Synthesizing results to understand the role of endocrine signaling in the development of play behavior remains difficult due to methodological inconsistency across studies. In this review, we synthesize what is known about hormonal mechanisms programming play, advocate standardized protocols for investigating rat play, and identify key areas where future research is needed. A synthetic understanding of the relationship between endocrine signaling and behavioral programming will improve our ability to understand the development and onset of neurodevelopmental disorders in humans and ultimately will help prevent these devastating conditions.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.021

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106 of 106 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Rat juvenile social play is sensitive to chemical factors such as prenatal and neonatal hormones and is a useful behavioral marker of neurodevelopment.

    “Rat juvenile social play is sensitive to chemical factors such as prenatal and neonatal hormones and is a useful behavioral marker of neurodevelopment as severe deficits in this behavior are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders [7].”
  • Isolation is a strong stressor per se and represents an important confounding factor.

    “Isolation is a strong stressor per se [53] and, although it may enhance the emergence of effects on play [7], it represents an important confounding factor.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Dessì-Fulgheri, 2002, Effects of perinatal exposure to bisphenol A on play behavior of female and male juvenile rats, Environ. Health Perspect., 110, 403, 10.1289/ehp.02110s3403 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Meaney, 1981, Neonatal-androgens influence the social play of prepubescent rats, Horm. Behav., 15, 197, 10.1016/0018-506X(81)90028-3 · DOI · Paper page
  3. Meaney, 1983, Sexual differentiation of social play in rat pups is mediated by the neonatal androgen-receptor system, Neuroendocrinology, 37, 85, 10.1159/000123524 · DOI · Paper page
  4. Pellis, 1993, Sex and the evolution of play fighting: a review and a model based on the behavior of muroid rodents, J. Play Theory Res., 1, 56

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Authors
Blake, B. E., & McCoy, K. A.
Affiliations
East Carolina University (US)
Corresponding author
McCoy, Krista A.
Venue
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2015-08
Volume
55
Pages
184-197
ISSN
0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2275765103
Cited by
20
References
106
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2
FWCI
4.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
Keywords
social play, hormone signaling, brain development, autism spectrum disorder, behavioral biomarkers, rat model, social development (developmental psychology)
MeSH terms
Animals, Animals, Newborn, Hormones, Humans, Social Behavior, Signal Transduction, Rats, Translational Research, Biomedical, Neurodevelopmental Disorders

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