Different behavioral expression of adolescent male and female rats in Hole-Board evaluated through quantitative and T-pattern analysis

Abstract

Studying the behavioral differences between male and female adolescent rats is of paramount importance for gaining a deeper understanding of how sex influences critical biological processes such as stress responses or susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. The present study aimed at comparing the behavior of adolescent male and female rats (post-natal day P30) tested in the Hole-Board paradigm, with a particular emphasis on the temporal organization and anxiety-related behaviors. Our analysis revealed a peculiar lack of significant findings in quantitative measures (e.g., mean occurrences and durations); on the contrary, highly significant sex-based differences concerning the temporal organization of behavior and the overall behavioral organization were observed. Our results suggest that adolescents female exhibited behaviors less constrained by the anxiety-related patterns observed in their male counterparts. These findings underscore the crucial role of adolescence in shaping key developmental dynamics, such as motivation, exploration, and anxiety regulation, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of how these processes evolve differently between the sexes during this critical period of development.