Blocking the activity of certain cells reduces play behavior in rats.
Rats are extremely playful creatures. They love playing chase and they literally jump for joy when tickled. Central to this playfulness, a new study finds, are nerve cells in a specific region of the brain.
Neurons in the periaqueductal gray, or PAG, are active in rats during different kinds of play, scientists report July 28 in Neuron. Blocking the activity of those neurons makes the rodents much less playful.
The results give insight into a poorly understood behavior, particularly in terms of how play is controlled in the brain.
When scientists tickled lab rats (one shown) and played a game with them, nerve cells in a brain region called the PAG became active. The team suspects that this region controls playfulness. “There are prejudices that it’s childish and not important, but play is an underrated behavior,” says Michael Brecht, a neuroscientist at Humboldt University of Berlin...
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