 | Author: Navya Kalia, 3rd year Undergrad |
| Faculty Mentor: Jessica Lee Department of Psychology Faculty member Faculty Mentor: Alexa H. Veenema Department of Psychology Faculty member |
Abstract:
Social play behavior is displayed by juveniles of various mammalian species and is critical for social competence throughout life. Autistic children engage in much less social play behavior, which may contribute to their life-long deficits in social competence. Thus, it is important to understand the neural mechanisms regulating social play behavior. The posterodorsal region of the medial amygdala (MePD) and the ventral pallidum (VP) are two brain regions that are part of a brain network involved in regulating social behavior. Furthermore, the MePD and the VP have each been shown to regulate social play behavior in juvenile rats. However, it is unknown whether and how the MePD to VP pathway regulates social play behavior in juvenile rats. Therefore, we aim to examine the involvement of the MePD to VP pathway in regulating social play behavior in juvenile male and female rats. First, by combining in situ hybridization with retrograde tract-tracing, we will determine whether MePD projections to the VP are inhibitory in nature by using gad1 as a marker for the GABAergic cells. Next, we will determine whether exposure to social play alters activation of VP-projecting cells in the MePD, using similar methods as the previous experiment, by using fos as an indirect measure of neural activity. Ultimately, outcomes of these experiments will provide insights into a neural pathway-specific modulation of social play behavior in juvenile male and female rats.