Psychomotor stimulants, social deprivation and play in juvenile rats

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Abstract

Treatment with d-amphetamine (0.125–1 mg/kg) or methylphenidate (0.5–4 mg/kg) caused dose-dependent decreases in play fighting in juvenile rats which were independent of sex and strain. Although brief social isolation profoundly increased play fighting, qualitatively similar drug effects on play were observed in socially housed and isolated animals. By contrast, at the highest doses tested both amphetamine and methylphenidate increased social investigation, but only if the rats were socially isolated. Stimulation of catecholamine systems is evidently incompatible with the expression of playful behavior.

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Supported by NICHD Grant HD-12620 to W.W. Beatty and NIMH Research Scientist Development Award MH-00086 to J. Panksepp. We thank Smith Kline Corp. and Ciba-Geigy for donating supplies of amphetamine and methylphenidate.

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