Ontogeny of sex differences in response to novel objects from adolescence to adulthood in Lister-hooded rats
Abstract
n humans, novelty-seeking behavior peaks in adolescence and is higher in males than females. Relatively, little information is available regarding age and sex differences in response to novelty in rodents. In this study, male and female Lister-hooded rats were tested at early adolescence (postnatal day, pnd, 28), mid-adolescence (pnd 40), or early adulthood (pnd 80) in a novel object recognition task (n = 12 males/females per age group). Males displayed a higher preference for the novel object than females at mid-adolescence, with no sex difference at early adolescence. Adult females interacted with the novel object more than adult males, but not when side biases were removed. Sex differences at mid-adolescence were not found in other measures, suggesting that the difference at this age was specific to situations involving choice of novelty. The results are considered in the context of age- and sex-dependent interactions between gonadal hormones and the dopamine system.
Citation
Cyrenne , D-L & Brown , G R 2011 , ' Ontogeny of sex differences in response to novel objects from adolescence to adulthood in Lister-hooded rats ' , Developmental Psychobiology , vol. 53 , no. 7 , pp. 670-676 . https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20542
Publication
Developmental Psychobiology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0012-1630Type
Journal article
Rights
(c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Online Open article, deposited according to publisher policy. Also available at DOI: 10.1002/dev.20542
Description
This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust [grant 078405/Z/05/Z]Collections
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