Social Deprivation of Neonatal, Adolescent, and Adult Rats Has Distinct Neurochemical and Behavioral Consequences

In the citing paper

“Complete social isolation in adolescent rodents evokes widespread structural and functional changes in the brain, most prominently in neuromodulatory dopamine and serotonin systems and particularly within cortical and striatal targets.33, 36, 37”

In the citing paper

“This rodent research has shown that social isolation causes substantial changes in brain and behaviour,31 especially if isolation occurs during development.33, 34”

In the citing paper

“Thus, complete social deprivation during rodent adolescence affects brain development, mainly affecting motivation and reward processes.33, 36”

In the citing paper

“Importantly, these effects are specific to isolation during rodent adolescence and do not occur to a similar extent when isolation occurs before or after adolescence.33, 36”

In the citing paper

“More specifically, although some divergent effects have been observed, the most consistent findings report that dopamine release in reward regions such as the nucleus accumbens increases following adolescent isolation, but dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex decreases.33, 36, 37”

In the citing paper

“Additional neurochemical changes include alterations to serotonin levels, with the direction of the effects differing between brain regions. For example, the prefrontal cortex shows increased serotonergic activity, whereas other brain areas, such as the hippocampus, show decreased activity. These alterations have been proposed to underlie observed behavioural changes such as increased anxiety and”