Differential Effects of Saffron and Caffeine on Social Play Behaviors by Sex
Board Location: #193
Discipline: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Session: 2
Serenity Logan - Morgan State University
Co-Author(s): Eryn Lewis, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD Ingrid Tulloch, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
The spice saffron (Crocus sativus) is reported to have psychostimulant, anti-anxiety, and anti-inflammation effects due to the pharmacological activity of its active ingredients, crocin, crocetin, safranol, and picrocrocin. The effects are reported to be similar to caffeine but to our knowledge, have yet to be studied in comparison to caffeine. Additionally, caffeine has been shown to affect social behaviors in mammals; but, saffron has not been studied for its effects on social behaviors. To address these knowledge gaps, we sought to examine the effects of saffron and caffeine on play behaviors in a rat model of social play. However, because play behaviors in rodents are thought to differ by sex, we also aimed to test the hypotheses that play behaviors will differ by sex and saffron treatment condition, reasoning that these stimulants would increase play behaviors in juvenile rats in comparison to control rats but more so in males than females. On post-natal day twenty-one, thirty-two Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of three pharmacological conditions and housed in same-sex, non-sibling pairs. The pharmacological conditions were intraperitoneal injections of either 1) 10 mg/kg of body weight of saffron stems steeped in saline, 2) 10 mg/kg caffeine dissolved in saline, or 3) approximately 200 ml of saline as the control condition. Injections began at four weeks of age and occurred once daily over 14 days. Following each injection, rats were placed in an open field for 10 minutes, with 5 minutes alone and 5 minutes with another rat of the same sex. The latency to engage in play, frequency, and duration of common play behaviors were recorded for each rat. Prominent play behaviors included pouncing, pinning, or chasing each other. The results show that both saffron and caffeine injections increased the play behaviors exhibited by the rats when compared to the control group. However, rats receiving caffeine exhibited more play behaviors than those receiving saffron. Additionally, it was observed that there is a sex difference when it comes to juvenile play). While caffeine is seen to increase play in both male and female rats, saffron is seen to increase play in females and decrease play in males. The caffeine findings align with prior studies reporting its role in increasing play behaviors in rats compared to controls; however, this study is the first to demonstrate that saffron increases play behaviors in juvenile rats with female rats playing more overall than the male rats. Female rats show a greater frequency of play, which contrasts with prior studies reporting that male rats play more than female rats. These findings also suggest that saffron impacts social behaviors differentially based on sex and that a mild stimulant such as saffron could be a potential intervention for children with social interaction deficits.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This research was supported and funded by NIH-NIMHD Grant #5U54MD013376-05, NIH-NIGMS Grant #5R25GM058904-22 and NSF S-STEM 2030608
Faculty Advisor: Ingrid Tulloch, ingrid.tulloch@morgan.edu
Role: While conducting this research study, I was responsible for experimental design, administering treatments, and collecting and analyzing data.