Formation of gender-related differences in the development of exploratory activity in rats in the pubertal period

The dynamics of exploratory activity were studied in male and female rats before weaning and at various phases of the pubertal period. Animals were studied at ages 18, 35, and 50 days using a modified light-dark test and at age 24 days in an open field test. Males were found to show significant changes in exploratory activity throughout the pubertal period, with increases in the proportion of animals exploring the light passages of the light-dark maze from age 18 to age 35 days; from age 35 to age 50 days, males entering the light passages showed an increase in the duration of time spent in them. In females, the only changes in exploratory behavior consisted of an increase in the number of transfers between the dark and light passages of the maze from age 35 to age 50 days. These differences provided evidence of the establishment of different patterns of exploratory behavior in male and female rats during postnatal ontogeny. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.