Original Article

Morphine administration selectively facilitates social play in common marmosets†‡

  1. Heather J. Guard,
  2. John D. Newman,
  3. R. Lucille Roberts*

Article first published online: 28 MAY 2002

DOI: 10.1002/dev.10043

Issue

Developmental Psychobiology

Developmental Psychobiology

Volume 41, Issue 1, pages 37–49, July 2002

Additional Information

How to Cite

Guard, H. J., Newman, J. D. and Roberts, R. L. (2002), Morphine administration selectively facilitates social play in common marmosets. Dev. Psychobiol., 41: 37–49. doi: 10.1002/dev.10043

Author Information

  1. Laboratory of Comparative Ethology National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Poolesville, MD 20837

*Laboratory of Comparative Ethology National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Poolesville, MD 20837.

  • †

    We hereby certify that the standards followed in the care and use of animal subjects were approved by the Institutional Care and Use Committee of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in compliance with the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The NIH Animal Center is an AAALAC accredited facility.

  • ‡

    This article is a US Government work, and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 MAY 2002
  2. Article first published online: 28 MAY 2002
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 7 DEC 2001
  4. Manuscript Received: 16 JUL 2001

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

Get PDF (135K)

Keywords:

  • common marmosets;
  • social play behavior;
  • opiates;
  • morphine;
  • naloxone;
  • juveniles

Abstract

Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) form extended families, and several cohorts of young may reside together. Play is shown extensively among the offspring. We hypothesized that opiate activity modulates social play, and predicted that administration of morphine (0.5 mg/kg) would facilitate social play, whereas pretreatment with naloxone (0.5 mg/kg) would block morphine's effects. Morphine administration was associated with significantly increased social play, and the effect of morphine was attributable to the focal subject, since play initiated by others was unaffected by treatment. Non-social categories of play, such as object manipulation and locomotor play, and affiliative behaviors, such as time spent huddled, were unaffected by treatment. Twittering and play face, behaviors used by young during play, also increased after morphine administration. Pretreatment with naloxone blocked morphine's effects. Total activity was significantly increased by morphine administration. We conclude that social play is specifically facilitated by opiate activation, whereas other categories of play behavior and social behavior were unaffected by morphine. Thus, social play represents a distinct category of social behavior in juvenile common marmosets with regulatory processes that are unique from other types of social behavior. Published 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 41: 37–49, 2002. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/dev.10043

Get PDF (135K)