Playful pathfinders: elucidating the direct contribution of mPFC pathways to social play behaviour in rats

Abstract

Social play is thought to be fundamental for the proper development of social, motoric and cognitive skills. Therefore, deficient social play, as reported in children with autism and ADHD, could have profound consequences later in life. Therefore, studying the underlying neurobiology of social play can provide valuable knowledge to guide new therapeutic strategies for these children. Due to the highly rewarding nature of social play, most research has focused on the involvement of reward systems in social play, such as the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and striatum. Even though this has identified potential targets underlying social play, to date no single study shows the direct involvement of corticolimbic or corticostriatal pathways in social play. This study aims to investigate the direct contribution of mPFC pathways to social play and how these pathways are altered following social play deprivation. Hereto, the activity within the mPFC-NAc and mPFC-BLA projections will be recorded during social play using innovative wireless photometry and subsequently manipulated using chemogenetics to uncover whether these projections are important for the expression of and motivation for social play. This study will follow by examining how social play deprivation affects the activity within these mPFC projections later in life, specifically during social and cognitive tasks. Finally, manipulations of these mPFC pathways during social play deprivation will reveal whether its detrimental effects can be alleviated. Combined, these experiments will elucidate whether the mPFC-NAc and mPFC-BLA pathways are directly involved in social play behaviour, and how they are affected by play deprivation.