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Results for “SOCIAL ISOLATION”

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PubMed1988

Lifelong eccentricity and social isolation. II: Asperger's syndrome or schizoid personality disorder?

Several scales are described for measuring aspects of eccentricity and social isolation; in particular, for assessing schizoid and schizotypal personality and for rating abnormal non-verbal expression. The latter is shown to be reliable, and the former to have a measure of validity. There was an association between schizoid personality traits and abnormalities of speech and non-verbal expression. However, abnormal non-verbal expression, but not schizoid personality traits or DSM-III schizotypal personality disorder, was particularly likely to occur in those subjects who had evidence of neurological deficit, and childhood symptoms indicative of developmental disorder. Abnormal non-verbal expression, but not personality disorder, was also associated with other characteristic features of Asperger's syndrome, such as unusual, 'special' interests. It is suggested that Asperger's syndrome is a distinct syndrome from either schizoid or schizotypal personality disorder, but may be a risk factor for the development of schizoid personality disorder.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1986

Telephone conversational skills training with socially isolated, impaired nursing home residents.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehensive training program for enhancing the conversational skills of socially isolated, impaired elderly nursing home residents. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to train four subjects (aged 87, 85, 68, and 66), on four content-related conversational components: expressing common courtesies, making positive self-disclosures, asking questions, and making interjections and acknowledgements. Training procedures included instructions, modeling, behavior rehearsal, feedback, and reinforcement. Results showed positive effects with all four subjects; in two cases, changes were significant enough to affect untrained observers' perceptions of the elders' conversational skills.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Discovery of decomposed and mummified corpses in the domestic setting--a marker of social isolation?

Mass media reports attribute the occurrence of decomposed or mummified corpses in a domestic setting mainly to an increasing social isolation of elderly people. Not much is known about the demographic and medical conditions under which individuals are found months or even years after death in their homes. For this study, autopsy reports of individuals found dead and mummified or decomposed between 1993 and 1997 with those from 1963 to 1967 were retrospectively analyzed. Between 1993 and 1997, a total number of 320 individuals were found decomposed at home compared to 412 such cases between 1963 and 1967. The proportion of individuals older than 64 years was significantly higher during the 1990s study period. Furthermore, the proportion of deaths attributable to natural causes was significantly lower during the 1990s, whereas the rate of suicides was nearly three times higher.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Long-term social isolation in the rat induces opposite changes in binding to alpha 1- and alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the brain and vas deferens.

Rats isolated at the time of calcification of the incisors show, after 14-18 months of social deprivation, an increased number of alpha 1-adrenoceptors labeled with [3H]WB 4101, both in the striatum and in the vas deferens, as well as a decreased number of alpha 2-adrenoceptors labeled with [3H]-clonidine in the vas deferens. Social isolation does not, however, modify the density of [3H]clonidine binding sites in the cerebral cortex. The functional state of alpha-adrenoreceptors in the vas deferens from isolated rats appears to correlate with the binding studies since the isolated tissue is hypersensitive to the contractile effect of exogenous noradrenaline and subsensitive to the inhibitory effect of clonidine on the electrically stimulated preparation.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Abnormalities of presynaptic protein CDCrel-1 in striatum of rats reared in social isolation: relevance to neural connectivity in schizophrenia.

Post-weaning social isolation-rearing of rats leads to behavioural and neurochemical sequelae that model aspects of schizophrenia, and it may be useful to test hypotheses related to putative molecular mechanisms of the illness. In humans, the presynaptic protein CDCrel-1 represents an interesting candidate molecule for the mechanism and aetiology of schizophrenia. CDCrel-1 modulates dopamine neurotransmission, binds to the SNARE protein syntaxin and maps onto a region of chromosome 22q11 deleted in velo-cardio-facial and DiGeorge syndromes, which are associated with increased prevalence of schizophrenia. Using the isolation-rearing model, we measured immunoreactivity of the synaptic proteins CDCrel-1, synaptophysin and syntaxin. Male, Sprague-Dawley rats were raised in groups or in isolation for 12 weeks from weaning. Synaptic protein immunoreactivities were measured in striatal and hippocampal homogenates, using a sensitive enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay with monoclonal antibodies. Isolation-rearing produced region- and protein-specific effects. CDCrel-1 immunoreactivity was significantly lower in the striatum and marginally higher in the hippocampus of isolation-reared compared with socially reared animals. There were no statistically significant differences in synaptophysin immunoreactivity in either region. Confocal microscopy demonstrated a high degree of colocalization between the two presynaptic proteins. In striatum, a robust relationship between CDCrel-1 and syntaxin immunoreactivities was observed in socially reared rats, this was lost in the isolation-reared animals. Altered levels of the septin CDCrel-1 in isolation-reared rats may contribute to changes in neuronal connectivity and neurotransmission, and suggest a potential role for CDCrel-1 in schizophrenia related to chromosome 22q11 deletion syndrome.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Protective effect of BR-16A, a polyherbal preparation against social isolation stress: possible GABAergic mechanism.

The antistress effects of BR-16A, a polyherbal preparation and its interaction with GABAergic modulators against social isolation-induced stress were investigated in the present study. Isolation stress was induced by keeping the mice (Laca strain) individually in each cage for 3 weeks and various drug treatments were given for a period of 5 days before the start of the experiments. The various behavioural parameters examined included pentobarbitone-induced sleep (sleep latency and duration), analgesia (tail-ssick test) and locomotor activity, respectively. BR-16A (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) treatment for 5 days significantly reversed the social isolation stress-induced prolongation of onset and decrease in pentobarbitone-induced sleep, increased total motor activity and stress-induced antinociception. When diazepam (0.5 mg/kg), a benzodiazepine agonist, was co-administered with BR-16A (100 mg/kg), it significantly potentiated the reversal of pentobarbitone-induced shortening of sleep time effects; increased locomotor activity and stress induced antinociceptive effects. However, the sleep latency was not decreased significantly. Further, ssumazenil (2 mg/kg), a benzodiazepine receptor antagonist and FG 7142 (10 mg/kg), an inverse agonist, when co-administered with BR-16A (100 mg/kg), showed no significant reversal on pentobarbitone-induced hypnosis, locomotor activity and social isolation-induced antinociception compared with their effects per se. The present study demonstrated the antistress effects of BR-16A preparation against social isolation-induced stress. The present study also suggests that the GABAergic system may be involved in its antistress effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Social isolation and cohabitation with haloperidol-treated partners: effect on density of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in the developing rat brain.

The influence of the social environment on striatal dopamine D2 receptor density in the developing rat brain was investigated. Social isolation of rats from 20 to 60 days of age was associated with a decrease in the density of striatal dopamine receptors. Daily handling of the animals did not attenuate this effect. Chronic haloperidol treatment increased striatal dopamine receptor density to normal control values. Cohabitation with haloperidol-treated rats from 20 to 60 days of age was also associated with a decrease in the density of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in nondrugged animals similar to that seen in animals housed in isolation. The contribution of early life experiences to the development of normal receptor functioning is discussed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1991

The relationship of loneliness, social isolation, and physical health to dietary adequacy of independently living elderly.

This study evaluated the dietary adequacy of elderly individuals to determine whether factors such as loneliness, social isolation, or physical health were related to nutrient intake. The participants (n = 61) were independently living individuals aged 60 to 94 years recruited through senior citizen centers, residential housing areas, and social agencies in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Three-day food records were used to collect dietary data, and nutrient intakes were compared with the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances. Three-day social contact diaries were used to measure frequency of interaction with others. The Physical Health Questionnaire was used to evaluate subjectively the number and severity of disease states, and the loneliness index was computed using the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. Energy and calcium were most likely to be underconsumed, and poor physical health was related to decreased intakes of vitamin A and ascorbic acid. Loneliness was related to dietary inadequacies. We recommend emphasis on education and services to provide home-delivered meals and groceries as well as affordable convenience foods of high nutrient density to enable older individuals to achieve adequate nutrient intake while maintaining an independent life-style.

Black or African American↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Caretaking in the first year of life: the role of fathers, and mothers' social isolation.

Data are presented from a follow-up study of some 80 normal first or second born children on the extent of father participation childrearing. Though at both 30 and 60 weeks most fathers played regularly with their children, only a minority regularly undertook care-taking activities. Fathers were more participant at 60 weeks than 30 weeks especially with their daughters. No clear social class differences were found. The number of visitors to the home and excursions by mothers showed that social isolation during the day was quite widespread. Social class I and II families were less likely to have relatives in the neighbourhood and so received fewer visits and went out less often. Mothers going out without children showed less marked social class differences. Mothers of children who woke regularly at night and showed more 'difficult' behaviour went out without their children less often than the mothers of children not classified in this way.

Father-Child Relations↗
PubMed1994

Effect of social isolation on corticosterone secretion elicited by histaminergic stimulation.

The effects of social stress of isolation for 3, 7, and 14 days on the responsiveness of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis to the stimulation of central histamine receptors and on the contents of hypothalamic biogenic amines were investigated. The corticosterone response to intraventricular administration of pyridylethylamine (PEA), a histamine H1-receptor agonist, was significantly higher in isolated than in control rats. The corticosterone response to dimaprit, a histamine H2-receptor agonist, tended to be slightly weaker in the stressed rather than in control rats. PEA significantly diminished the hypothalamic noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin contents in both control and isolated rats. Dimaprit also decreased the brain NA, but not the DA concentrations in control and isolated rats. The changes in monoamines were not correlated with either the time, direction or magnitude of changes in corticosterone levels. These results suggest that hyperresponsiveness of the HPA system to the stimulation of central H1-histamine receptors during social isolation may depend on changes in the efficacy of H1 receptors but not on changes in the brain monoamine levels.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Rats reared in social isolation show schizophrenia-like changes in auditory gating.

Central sensory filtering processes can be demonstrated using a paired stimulus paradigm. Normal humans show a diminished vertex-recorded midlatency auditory-evoked potential to the second of paired clicks (0.5 s apart), a phenomenon termed auditory gating. Schizophrenics routinely fail to suppress the response to the second stimulus; thus, they do not gate. Previous animal studies of auditory gating have used psychotomimetic drug administration to induce a schizophrenia-like loss. However, a nonpharmacologic model of deficient gating would be advantageous. Isolation rearing of weanling rats produces impaired prepulse startle inhibition similar to that observed in schizophrenics. The present studied examined the effects of rearing status upon auditory gating. Male Sprague-Dawley rats raised in social isolation (ISO) were compared to socially raised rats (SOC). Across 10 baseline recording sessions, SOC rats showed substantial gating, while ISO rats failed to gate. Abnormal auditory gating is transiently normalized by nicotine, but not haloperidol, in schizophrenics. ISO rats given nicotine bitartrate showed gating in the normal range for 60 min. By contrast, haloperidol failed to normalize gating in ISO rats. Thus, isolation rearing of weanling rats appears to produce a stable schizophrenia-like gating deficiency that shows the same pattern of response to pharmacological interventions.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Social isolation stress exacerbates autoimmune disease in MRL/lpr mice.

The potential physiological mechanisms explaining an influence of psychosocial stress on autoimmune diseases remain undetermined. Exposure of chronic social isolation stress to MRL/lpr mice significantly enhanced the degree of proteinuria after 20 weeks of age and reduced the survival rate. The serum anti-dsDNA IgG2a levels were increased significantly by stress at 19 weeks of age, which was simultaneously accompanied by inhibition of the serum corticosterone elevation. Furthermore, stress caused increased IFN-gamma production from anti-CD3-stimulated splenic mononuclear cells, whereas IL-4 and IL-10 production decreased. These results indicated that isolation stress exacerbated autoimmune disease in MRL/lpr mice, the possible mechanism for which might be related to stress-induced dysregulation of Th1/Th2 balance and inhibition of the blood corticosterone response to inflammatory stimuli.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early social isolation, but not maternal separation, affects behavioral sensitization to amphetamine in male and female adult rats.

Early life stressful manipulations, such as maternal separation (MS) or social isolation (SI), can influence the neurobiological development of rats and alter the response of adult animals to drugs of abuse. The present study examined the acute and sensitized behavioral responses (locomotor activity (LMA) and stereotypy) induced by amphetamine after MS or SI in male and female rats. In addition, the hypothesis that the combination of SI and MS could lead to additional effects on the behavioral response to amphetamine was tested. After the repetitive, intermittent administration of 1.5 mg/kg D-amphetamine over five consecutive days, the behavioral expression of sensitization to a challenge injection was assessed following a 2-day withdrawal period. In both sexes, MS and SI did not alter the acute locomotor activating effects of amphetamine as measured in the open-field environment after the first administration of the drug. Whereas SI altered the expression of sensitization to amphetamine in both sexes, MS did not affect it. Finally, in none of the behavioral variables measured did MS and SI interact to further modify the behavioral profile of the animals. The present results suggest that a postweaning manipulation of the environment (SI) is more effective than a preweaning manipulation (MS) in modifying the expression of sensitization to amphetamine.

Aging↗
PubMed1989

Isolation distress and maternal comfort responses of two-week-old rat pups reared in social isolation.

In 2-week-old rats, isolation from social companions in an unfamiliar place elicits ultrasonic vocalization rearing and locomotor behavior. These responses are prevented and close body contact is maintained if littermates or the dam are present. It has generally been believed that such isolation distress and comfort responses develop as a result of prior social experience. We reared pups in isolation from the third postnatal day and found essentially normal responses. A second experiment replicated and extended these results to pups reared in isolation from the day of birth. Isolation-reared pups did have higher levels of ultrasonic vocalization than their normally reared littermates, lower body weight, and lower post-test temperatures. We conclude that a lengthy period of close body contact and frequent social interactions with conspecifics are not necessary for the development of attachment responses in this species.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of the effects of dopamine agonists on self-stimulation of the hypothalamus with lesioning of mesolimbic brain structures in rats reared in conditions of social isolation.

Initial and phenamine-stimulated frequencies of self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus were not significantly different in rats reared in communities and in conditions of social isolation. Unilateral lesioning of the ventral tegmental area and the medial prefrontal cortex in early ontogenesis increased phenamine sensitivity only in isolated rats. The dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine, at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg, which affects presynaptic receptors, inhibited the self-stimulation response in intact group-reared animals and in rats reared in isolation, by 21-23%. Stimulation of the ventral tegmental area did not change, while stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex doubled the sensitivity of rats to apomorphine in animals reared in isolation (at doses of 0.05 and 0.5 mg/kg). Conditions of partial sensory and complete species isolation resulted in the development of a state of presynaptic receptor hypersensitivity of dopamine receptors in mesocorticolimbic brain systems in rats.

Amphetamine↗
PubMed1997

Rough-and-tumble play behavior in Fischer-344 and buffalo rats: effects of social isolation.

Play behavior was assessed in two inbred strains of rats. Rats of the Fischer-344 strain (F344) were found to be less playful than Buffalo rats after social isolation, as evident from fewer pins and fewer playful attacks to the nape. When tested in same-strain pairings, overall defense of the nape did not differ between strains, although there were strain differences in the specific pattern of defense. When tested in cross-strain pairings, F344 rats were less likely to direct nape attacks toward a Buffalo play partner, and were also less likely to defend their nape when attacked by Buffalo rats. Although different levels of pinning and nape attacks in the two strains were dependent on the amount of isolation prior to the play period, differences in nape defense were not dependent on prior isolation. This pattern of results suggests that the neural mechanisms for playful attack differ from those underlying playful defense. These data also suggest that the F344 strain could be useful in better understanding the neural and genetic bases of mammalian playfulness.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Effect of Japanese angelica root extract on pentobarbital-induced sleep in group-housed and socially isolated mice: evidence for the central action.

We investigated the effect of the aqueous extract of Japanese angelica root (JAR) on pentobarbital (PB) sleep in group-housed and socially isolated mice. The JAR extract (1.25-2.5 g/kg, p.o.) dose-dependently reversed the decrease in PB sleep caused by isolation stress without affecting PB sleep in group-housed mice. The JAR extract (2.5 g/kg, p.o.) also antagonized the decrease in PB sleep caused by the alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonists yohimbine and idazoxan (1 mg/kg, i.p.) and the alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist methoxamine (200 nmol, i.c.v.) in group-housed mice. These results suggest that the JAR extract reverses changes in the arousal level caused by isolation stress and the activation of central noradrenergic systems.

Administration, Oral↗