title: Pro-social ultrasonic communication in rats: insights from playback studies.
abstract: Rodent ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) serve as situation-dependent affective signals and convey important communicative functions. In the rat, three major USV types exist: (I) 40-kHz USV, which are emitted by pups during social isolation; (II) 22-kHz USV, which are produced by juvenile and adult rats in aversive situations, including social defeat; and (III) 50-kHz USV, which are uttered by juvenile and adult rats in appetitive situations, including rough-and-tumble play. Here, evidence for a communicative function of 50-kHz USV is reviewed, focusing on findings obtained in the recently developed 50-kHz USV radial maze playback paradigm. Up to now, the following five acoustic stimuli were tested in this paradigm: (A) natural 50-kHz USV, (B) natural 22-kHz USV, (C) artificial 50-kHz sine wave tones, (D) artificial time- and amplitude-matched white noise, and (E) background noise. All studies using the 50-kHz USV radial maze playback paradigm indicate that 50-kHz USV serve a pro-social affiliative function as social contact calls. While playback of the different kinds of acoustic stimuli used so far elicited distinct behavioral response patterns, 50-kHz USV consistently led to social approach behavior in the recipient, indicating that pro-social ultrasonic communication can be studied in a reliable and highly standardized manner by means of the 50-kHz USV radial maze playback paradigm. This appears to be particularly relevant for rodent models of neurodevelopmental disorders, as there is a tremendous need for reliable behavioral assays with face validity to social communication deficits seen in autism and schizophrenia in order to study underlying genetic and neurobiological alterations.
authors: Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Philipps-University of Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
authors: Dominik
authors: D
authors: Seffer
authors: Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Philipps-University of Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
authors: Rainer K W
authors: RK
authors: Schwarting
authors: Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Philipps-University of Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, D-35032 Marburg, Germany. Electronic address: markus.woehr@staff.uni-marburg.de.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Wöhr
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D035841:Behavioral Research; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D051381:Rats; D012919:Social Behavior; D014465:Ultrasonics; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Animal model; Autism; Schizophrenia; Social behavior; Ultrasonic communication; Ultrasonic vocalizations