Adolescence is a critical period of establishing social relations through social interactions that affect the emotional development associated with stress responses, anxiety, depression, and cognitive development. We investigated the behavioral and neurobiological changes induced by handling and social isolation in adolescent rats to determine social interaction effects. Rats were randomly divided into groups and used as a control, a handling, and a social isolation group. After 12 weeks, the handling group showed a significant increase in mobility in the open field test and in tryptophan hydroxylase expression in the dorsal raphe nucleus, as well as significantly reduced immobility times in the forced swim test, compared to the control group (p < 0.05). The social isolation group, in contrast, showed a significant increase in immobility times in the forced swim test and in glucocorticoid and SIRT1 expression in the hippocampus, as well as a significant reduction in mobility in the open field test and in escape latency times in the passive avoidance test, compared to the control group (p < 0.05). The present results show that while handling did not improve cognitive function, it reduced anxiety and lowered depression levels; social isolation, in contrast, significantly impaired the animals’ stress response, anxiety and depression levels, and cognitive function. Our findings indicate that handling and social isolation have a strong effect on adolescents' emotional and cognitive development into healthy adults.

青春期是通过社交互动建立社会关系的关键时期，社交互动会影响与压力反应，焦虑，抑郁和认知发展相关的情感发展。我们调查了行为和神经生物学的变化，由青春期大鼠的处理和社会隔离引起，以确定社会相互作用的影响。将大鼠随机分为几组，并用作对照组，处理组和社会隔离组。与对照组相比，处理组在12周后在野外试验和背缝核中色氨酸羟化酶表达中的活动性显着增加，并且在强迫游泳试验中显着减少了不活动时间（p<0.05）。相比之下，社会隔离组在强迫游泳测试中的不活动时间显着增加，在海马体中糖皮质激素和SIRT1的表达显着增加，并且在野外测试中的活动性和在逃生潜伏时间中的显着减少。与对照组相比，进行被动回避测试（p <0.05）。目前的结果表明，尽管处理不能改善认知功能，但可以减轻焦虑并降低抑郁水平。相反，社会隔离严重损害了动物的应激反应，焦虑和抑郁水平以及认知功能。我们的研究结果表明，处理和社会隔离对青少年向健康成年人的情感和认知发展有很大影响。