Social play behaviour is a rewarding activity that can entail risks, thus allowing young individuals to test the limits of their capacities and to train their cognitive and emotional adaptability to challenges. Here, we tested in rats how opportunities for risk‐taking during play affect the development of cognitive and emotional capacities and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function, a brain structure important for risk‐based decision making. Male and female rats were housed socially or social play‐deprived (SPD) between postnatal day (P)21 and P42. During this period, half of both groups were daily exposed to a high‐risk play environment. Around P85, all rats were tested for cognitive performance and emotional behaviour after which inhibitory currents were recorded in layer 5 pyramidal neurons in mPFC slices. We show that playing in a high‐risk environment altered cognitive flexibility in both sexes and improved behavioural inhibition in males. High‐risk play altered anxiety‐like behaviour in the elevated plus maze in males and in the open field in females, respectively. SPD affected cognitive flexibility in both sexes and decreased anxiety‐like behaviour in the elevated plus maze in females. We found that synaptic inhibitory currents in the mPFC were increased in male, but not female, rats after high‐risk play, while SPD lowered prefrontal cortex (PFC) synaptic inhibition in both sexes. Together, our data show that exposure to risks during play affects the development of cognition, emotional behaviour and inhibition in the mPFC. Furthermore, our study suggests that the opportunity to take risks during play cannot substitute for social play behaviour.

中文翻译：

---

玩耍过程中冒险的机会改变了两性大鼠的认知表现和前额叶抑制信号

社交游戏行为是一种有益的活动，可能会带来风险，从而使年轻人能够测试自己能力的极限，并训练他们对挑战的认知和情感适应能力。在这里，我们在老鼠身上测试了游戏过程中冒险的机会如何影响认知和情感能力以及内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）功能的发展，mPFC是一种对基于风险的决策非常重要的大脑结构。雄性和雌性大鼠在出生后 (P)21 天和 P42 之间被社会饲养或剥夺社交游戏 (SPD)。在此期间，两组中的一半人每天都暴露在高风险的游戏环境中。在 P85 左右，对所有大鼠进行认知表现和情绪行为测试，然后记录 mPFC 切片中第 5 层锥体神经元的抑制电流。我们发现，在高风险环境中玩耍会改变两性的认知灵活性，并改善男性的行为抑制。高风险游戏分别改变了男性高架十字迷宫和女性开放场地中的焦虑样行为。 SPD 影响两性的认知灵活性，并减少女性高架十字迷宫中的焦虑样行为。我们发现，在高风险游戏后，雄性大鼠（而非雌性）mPFC 中的突触抑制电流增加，而 SPD 降低了两性大鼠的前额皮质 (PFC) 突触抑制。总之，我们的数据表明，玩耍时暴露于风险会影响 mPFC 的认知、情绪行为和抑制的发展。此外，我们的研究表明，在游戏中冒险的机会不能替代社交游戏行为。