Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted ascending) Filter |
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| the influences of conspecific and heterospecific residents on colonization. | to determine if dispersing prairie voles, microtus ochrogaster, are prevented from establishing home ranges in habitat already occupied by conspecifics or potentially competitive species, voles were introduced into enclosed populations of: the same species; southern bog lemmings, synaptomys cooperi; cotton rats, sigmodon hispidus; or an empty enclosure. the results indicated that colonization by dispersing voles was negatively affected by resident conspecifics. introduced females were more stron ... | 1987 | 29357185 |
| the influence of environmental enrichment on cardiovascular and behavioral responses to social stress. | stress is linked to negative cardiovascular consequences and increases in depressive behaviors. environmental enrichment (ee) involves exposure to novel items that provide physical and cognitive stimulation. ee has behavioral, cognitive, and neurobiological effects that may improve stress responses in humans and animal models. this study investigated the potential protective effects of ee on behavior and cardiovascular function in female prairie voles following a social stressor. | 2018 | 29360667 |
| nucleus accumbens core medium spiny neuron electrophysiological properties and partner preference behavior in the adult male prairie vole, microtus ochrogaster. | medium spiny neurons (msns) in the nucleus accumbens have long been implicated in the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie numerous social and motivated behaviors as studied in rodents such as rats. recently, the prairie vole has emerged as an important model animal for studying social behaviors, particularly regarding monogamy due to their ability to form pair bonds. however, to our knowledge, no study has assessed intrinsic vole msn electrophysiological properties, or tested how these prop ... | 2018 | 29361665 |
| individual variation in social behaviours of male lab-reared prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) is non-heritable and weakly associated with v1ar density. | the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to pair bonding behaviour remain poorly understood. prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) often, but not always, form stable pair bonds and present an ideal model species for investigating the genetic and environmental factors that influence monogamy. here, we assessed variation in partner preference, a measure of pair bonding, and related social behaviours in a population of laboratory-reared prairie voles under controlled environmental condi ... | 2018 | 29362383 |
| mechanistic substrates of a life history transition in male prairie voles: developmental plasticity in affiliation and aggression corresponds to nonapeptide neuronal function. | although prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) social behavior is well-characterized in adults, surprisingly little is known about the development of social behavior in voles. further, the overwhelming majority of studies in prairie voles examine social behavior in a reproductive context. here, we examine developmental plasticity in affiliation and aggression and their underlying neural correlates. using sexually naïve males, we characterized interactions with an age-matched, novel, same-sex consp ... | 2018 | 29407458 |
| prenatal stress as a risk-and an opportunity-factor. | two separate lines of research indicate (a) that prenatal stress is associated with heightened behavioral and physiological reactivity and (b) that these postnatal phenotypes are associated with increased susceptibility to both positive and negative developmental experiences. therefore, prenatal stress may increase sensitivity to the rearing environment. we tested this hypothesis by manipulating prenatal stress and rearing-environment quality, using a cross-fostering paradigm, in prairie voles. ... | 2018 | 29412055 |
| physical separation from the mate diminishes male's attentiveness towards other females: a study in monogamous prairie voles microtus ochrogaster. | we tested whether continuous cohabitation in monogamous voles affects the mated male's attentiveness to his breeding partner versus another female. each male was housed in a 3-chamber apparatus with a focal female (ff) and a control female (cf) for 13 days then placed in a t-maze to assess his attentiveness to and memory of those females. the distal male remained physically separated from both females, but received their distal cues. the separate male cohabited with the ff for 3 days then remain ... | 2017 | 29492013 |
| prairie voles as a model for understanding the genetic and epigenetic regulation of attachment behaviors. | over a lifetime, humans build relationships with family, friends, and partners that are critically important for our mental and physical health. unlike commonly used laboratory mice and rats, microtine rodents provide a unique model to study the neurobiology underlying pair bonding and the selective attachments that form between adults. comparisons between monogamous prairie voles and the closely related but nonmonogamous meadow and montane voles have revealed that brain-region-specific neuropep ... | 2018 | 29513516 |
| rapid nonapeptide synthesis during a critical period of development in the prairie vole: plasticity of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. | vasopressin (vp) and oxytocin (ot) are involved in modulating basic physiology and numerous social behaviors. although the anatomical distributions of nonapeptide neurons throughout development have been described, the functional roles of vp and ot neurons during development are surprisingly understudied, and it is unknown whether they exhibit functional changes throughout early development. we utilized an acute social isolation paradigm to determine if vp and ot neural responses in eight nonape ... | 2018 | 29523998 |
| social transfer of alcohol withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia in female prairie voles. | the expression of pain serves as a way for animals to communicate potential dangers to nearby conspecifics. recent research demonstrated that mice undergoing alcohol or morphine withdrawal, or inflammation, could socially communicate their hyperalgesia to nearby mice. however, it is unknown whether such social transfer of hyperalgesia can be observed in other species of rodents. therefore, the present study investigated if the social transfer of hyperalgesia occurs in the highly social prairie v ... | 2018 | 29564972 |
| fecal microbiota in the female prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster). | we examined the fecal microbiota of female prairie voles. this species is socially and, likely, sexually monogamous, and thus serves as a valuable model in which to examine the interaction between the microbiota-gut-brain axis and social behavior. at present, little is known about the gastrointestinal microbiota of prairie voles; therefore, we performed a first characterization of the fecal microbiota using 16s rrna gene amplicon sequencing. semiconductor sequencing technology on an ion torrent ... | 2018 | 29579049 |
| specificity in sociality: mice and prairie voles exhibit different patterns of peer affiliation. | social behavior is often described as a unified concept, but highly social (group-living) species exhibit distinct social structures and may make different social decisions. prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) are socially monogamous rodents that often reside in extended family groups, and exhibit robust preferences for familiar social partners (same- and opposite-sex) during extended choice tests, although short-term preferences are not known. mice (mus musculus) are gregarious and colonial, b ... | 2018 | 29615879 |
| developmental trajectories and influences of environmental complexity on oxytocin receptor and vasopressin 1a receptor expression in male and female prairie voles. | nonapeptide receptors, like oxytocin receptor (otr) and vasopressin 1a receptor (v1ar), modulate a variety of functions across taxa, and mediate phenotypic variation within and between species. despite the popularity of studying nonapeptides in adults, developmental perspectives on properties of otr and v1ar expression are lacking. study of prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) has facilitated an understanding of mechanisms of social behavior and provides great potential to inform how early life ... | 2018 | 29665010 |
| interactions of sex and early life social experiences at two developmental stages shape nonapeptide receptor profiles. | early life social experiences are critical to behavioral and cognitive development, and can have a tremendous influence on developing social phenotypes. most work has focused on outcomes of experiences at a single stage of development (e.g. perinatal or post-weaning). few studies have assessed the impact of social experience at multiple developmental stages and across sex. oxytocin and vasopressin are profoundly important for modulating social behavior and these nonapeptide systems are highly se ... | 2018 | 29851289 |
| inhibiting erα expression in the medial amygdala increases prosocial behavior in male meadow voles (microtus pennsylvanicus). | this study tested the hypothesis that site-specific estrogen receptor alpha (erα) expression is a critical factor in the expression of male prosocial behavior and aggression. previous studies have shown that in the socially monogamous prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) low levels of erα expression, in the medial amygdala (mea), play an essential role in the expression of high levels of male prosocial behavior and that increasing erα expression reduced male prosocial behavior. we used an shrna a ... | 2018 | 29859197 |
| relationship between sequence homology, genome architecture, and meiotic behavior of the sex chromosomes in north american voles. | in most mammals, the x and y chromosomes synapse and recombine along a conserved region of homology known as the pseudoautosomal region (par). these homology-driven interactions are required for meiotic progression and are essential for male fertility. although the par fulfills key meiotic functions in most mammals, several exceptional species lack par-mediated sex chromosome associations at meiosis. here, we leveraged the natural variation in meiotic sex chromosome programs present in north ame ... | 2018 | 30002081 |
| intranasal oxytocin reduces weight gain in diet-induced obese prairie voles. | oxytocin (ot) elicits weight loss in diet-induced obese (dio) rodents, nonhuman primates and humans by reducing food intake and increasing energy expenditure. in addition to being important in the regulation of energy balance, ot is involved in social behaviors including parent-infant bonds, friendships, and pair bonds. however, the impact of social context on susceptibility to diet-induced obesity (dio) and feeding behavior (including food sharing) has not been investigated in a rodent model th ... | 2018 | 30144467 |
| cardiac and behavioral effects of social isolation and experimental manipulation of autonomic balance. | improved understanding of how depression and social isolation interact to increase cardiac morbidity and mortality will improve public health. this experiment evaluated the effect of pharmacological autonomic blockade on cardiac and behavioral reactivity following social isolation in prairie voles. experiment 1 validated the dose and time course of pharmacological autonomic antagonism of peripheral β-adrenergic (atenolol) and muscarinic cholinergic receptors (atropine methyl nitrate), and experi ... | 2018 | 30177218 |
| early nurture epigenetically tunes the oxytocin receptor. | mammalian sociality is regulated in part by the neuropeptide oxytocin. in prairie voles, subtle variation in early life experience changes oxytocin receptor-mediated social behaviors. we report that low levels of early care in voles leads to de novo dna methylation at specific regulatory sites in the oxytocin receptor gene (oxtr), impacting gene expression and protein distribution in the nucleus accumbens. dna methylation state of the blood predicts expression in the brain indicating the utility ... | 2019 | 30227351 |
| the neural mechanisms and circuitry of the pair bond. | love is one of our most powerful emotions, inspiring some of the greatest art, literature and conquests of human history. although aspects of love are surely unique to our species, human romantic relationships are displays of a mating system characterized by pair bonding, likely built on ancient foundational neural mechanisms governing individual recognition, social reward, territorial behaviour and maternal nurturing. studies in monogamous prairie voles and mice have revealed precise neural mec ... | 2018 | 30301953 |
| postnatal maturation of the intestinal epithelial barrier in prairie voles. | intestinal epithelium develops during gestation and continues to mature post-natally into a selective barrier that will protect the individual while still allowing passage of nutrients. until fully mature, the risk of translocation of microorganisms, toxins or antigens into the sub-epithelial tissue is high and could result in pathologies with life-altering consequences, or even premature death. because of their monogamous mating system, prairie voles are an emerging model for studying the role ... | 2018 | 30309507 |
| age-specific and context-specific responses of the medial extended amygdala in the developing prairie vole. | the social needs of organisms change as they mature. yet, little is known about the mechanisms that subserve processing social interactions or how these systems develop. the medial extended amygdala (meea) is comprised of the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (bstm) and the medial amygdala (mea). this neural complex holds great promise for understanding how the social brain processes information. we assessed expression of the immediate early gene cfos and the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase ... | 2018 | 30354021 |
| frank beach award winner: neuroendocrinology of group living. | why do members of some species live in groups while others are solitary? group living (sociality) has often been studied from an evolutionary perspective, but less is known about the neurobiology of affiliation outside the realms of mating and parenting. colonial species offer a valuable opportunity to study nonsexual affiliative behavior between adult peers. meadow voles (microtus pennsylvanicus) display environmentally induced variation in social behavior, maintaining exclusive territories in ... | 2019 | 30439353 |
| making waves: comparing morris water task performance in rats and prairie voles. | spatial processing is a critical component for survival. this domain of information processing has been extensively studied in rats and mice. limited work has examined the capacity of other rodent species, like the prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster), to process spatial information. the morris water task (mwt) is a classic spatial task that has been used to examine spatial cognition in rodents. this task involves an animal developing configural relationships between extra-maze cues and the locat ... | 2019 | 30472112 |
| novel unconditioned prosocial behavior in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) as a model for empathy. | in this study, empathy is quantified using a novel social test. empathy and prosocial behavior are linked to the expression of oxytocin in humans and rodent models. specifically, prosocial behavior in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) has been linked to the expression of oxytocin in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. the animal's behavior was considered empathic if it spends significantly more time attempting to remove a loos fitting restraint (tether) from the stimulus animal t ... | 2018 | 30509318 |
| maternal and paternal origin differentially affect prosocial behavior and neural mechanisms in prairie voles. | this study tested the hypotheses that maternal and paternal effects differentially influence expression of their offspring's adult behavior and underlying neural mechanisms. we predicted that maternal influences would be greater than paternal influences on male offspring. we tested these hypotheses by cross-breeding two phenotypically-, behaviorally- and neuroanatomically-distinct populations of prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) from illinois, which are highly prosocial, and kansas, which are ... | 2019 | 30521929 |
| comparative role of reward in long-term peer and mate relationships in voles. | this is a contribution to si: sbn/icn meeting. in social species, relationships may form between mates, parents and their offspring, and/or social peers. prairie voles and meadow voles both form selective relationships for familiar same-sex peers, but differ in mating system, allowing comparison of the properties of peer and mate relationships. prairie vole mate bonds are dopamine-dependent, unlike meadow vole peer relationships, indicating potential differences in the mechanisms and motivation ... | 2019 | 30528833 |
| acoustic prepulse inhibition in male and female prairie voles: implications for models of neuropsychiatric illness. | sensory gating, the ability to suppress sensory information of irrelevant stimuli, is affected in several neuropsychiatric diseases, notably schizophrenia and autism. it is currently unclear how these deficits interact with other hallmark symptoms of these disorders, such as social withdrawal and difficulty with interpersonal relationships. the highly affiliative prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) may be an ideal model organism to study the neurobiology underlying social behavior. in this study ... | 2019 | 30550951 |
| fatherhood alters gene expression within the mpoa. | female parenting is obligate in mammals, but fathering behavior among mammals is rare. only 3-5% of mammalian species exhibit biparental care, including humans, and mechanisms of fathering behavior remain sparsely studied. however, in species where it does exist, paternal care is often crucial to the survivorship of offspring. the present study is the first to identify new gene targets linked to the experience of fathering behavior in a biparental species using rna sequencing. in order to determ ... | 2018 | 30568805 |
| wheel access has opposing effects on stress physiology depending on social environment in female prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | physical exercise and chronic social stress are both known to impact general health and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis function, albeit typically in opposing directions. therefore, the question we investigated in this study was how these two factors - physical exercise and chronic social isolation - would interact when presented simultaneously in a female rodent model. adult female prairie voles were separated into four experimental groups: (1) isolated without wheel access, (2) isola ... | 2019 | 30628521 |
| oxytocin administration prevents cellular aging caused by social isolation. | chronic stressors, such as chronic isolation in social mammals, can elevate glucocorticoids, which can affect cellular mechanisms of aging, including increased levels of oxidative stress and shortened telomere lengths. recent work in the selectively social prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) suggests that oxytocin and social support may mitigate some of the negative consequences of social isolation, possibly by reducing glucocorticoid levels. we investigated the influences of isolation, social s ... | 2019 | 30640038 |
| behavioral and cardiovascular consequences of disrupted oxytocin communication in cohabitating pairs of male and female prairie voles. | negative social experiences may influence psychological and physiological health via altered central oxytocin communication. the prairie vole is valuable for investigating the potential influence of oxytocin on responses to social experiences. prairie voles are socially monogamous, live in pairs or family groups, and respond negatively to changes in the social environment. this study investigated the hypothesis that disruptions of oxytocin in one prairie vole of a cohabitating male-female pair w ... | 2019 | 30658044 |
| neural circuits underlying rodent sociality: a comparative approach. | all mammals begin life in social groups, but for some species, social relationships persist and develop throughout the course of an individual's life. research in multiple rodent species provides evidence of relatively conserved circuitry underlying social behaviors and processes such as social recognition and memory, social reward, and social approach/avoidance. species exhibiting different complex social behaviors and social systems (such as social monogamy or familiarity preferences) can be c ... | 2019 | 30710222 |
| oxytocin receptor knockout prairie voles generated by crispr/cas9 editing show reduced preference for social novelty and exaggerated repetitive behaviors. | behavioral neuroendocrinology has benefited tremendously from the use of a wide range of model organisms that are ideally suited for particular questions. however, in recent years the ability to manipulate the genomes of laboratory strains of mice has led to rapid advances in our understanding of the role of specific genes, circuits and neural populations in regulating behavior. while genome manipulation in mice has been a boon for behavioral neuroscience, the intensive focus on the mouse restri ... | 2019 | 30713102 |
| early-life sleep disruption increases parvalbumin in primary somatosensory cortex and impairs social bonding in prairie voles. | across mammals, juveniles sleep more than adults, with rapid eye movement (rem) sleep at a lifetime maximum early in life. one function of rem sleep may be to facilitate brain development of complex behaviors. here, we applied 1 week of early-life sleep disruption (elsd) in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster), a highly social rodent species that forms lifelong pair bonds. electroencephalographic recordings from juvenile voles during elsd revealed decreased rem sleep and reduced γ power compared ... | 2019 | 30729165 |
| chronic exposure to inorganic mercury alters stress responses in male prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | male, but not female, prairie voles that experience chronic exposure to inorganic mercury display aberrant social behavior - avoiding unfamiliar conspecifics rather than approaching them. the mechanisms that underlie such behavioral changes are unknown, but likely involve the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis. we tested this hypothesis by providing voles of both sexes with mercury chloride in their drinking water for ten weeks and then staging same-sex dyadic encounters after which plasm ... | 2019 | 30769014 |
| consequences of prenatal exposure to valproic acid in the socially monogamous prairie voles. | environmental risk factors contribute to autism spectrum disorders (asd) etiology. in particular, prenatal exposure to the highly teratogenic anticonvulsant valproic acid (vpa) significantly increases asd prevalence. although significant discoveries on the embryopathology of vpa have been reported, its effects on the ability to form enduring social attachment-characteristic of asd but uncommonly displayed by rats and mice-remains unknown. we aimed to examine the effects of prenatal vpa exposure ... | 2019 | 30792426 |
| pattern of fos activation in the ventral tegmental area (vta) of male prairie vole's (microtus ochrogaster) in response to infant-related stimuli. | prairie voles are socially monogamous mammals that form pair bonds and display paternal care. this study was focused on the male prairie vole's neuronal responses to infant-related odors. using the fos protein as a measure of neuronal activation, we examined the brain responses of males to infant-related odors. prior to testing, the subjects had cohabited for two weeks with either a male sibling (male-cohabited) or an unrelated female (female-cohabited). given that paternal behavior of male prai ... | 2019 | 30822390 |
| affiliation, aggression, and selectivity of peer relationships in meadow and prairie voles. | relationships between adult peers are central to the structure of social groups. in some species, selective preferences for specific peers provide a foundation for consistent group composition. these preferences may be shaped by affiliation toward familiar individuals, and/or by aversion to unfamiliar individuals. we compared peer interactions in two vole species that form selective preferences for familiar same-sex individuals but differ in mating system. prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) fo ... | 2019 | 30941022 |
| dopamine d1-like receptors regulate agonistic components of pair bond maintenance behaviors in male titi monkeys (callicebus cupreus). | several neurobiological mechanisms are implicated in the formation of selective pair bonds in socially monogamous mammals, however much less is known about the mechanisms that underlie the long-term behavioral maintenance of these bonds. in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster), agonistic behavior that contributes to pair bond maintenance are regulated by dopamine activity at d1-like receptors (d1r) within the mesocorticolimbic system. evidence suggests d1rs similarly regulate the behavioral comp ... | 2019 | 31022585 |
| rewritable fidelity: how repeated pairings and age influence subsequent pair-bond formation in male prairie voles. | the prairie vole has proven a valuable animal model for the neurobiological study of social monogamy and pair bonding. previous research has focused almost exclusively on virgin prairie voles forming pair-bonds for the first time - a paradigm with limited relevance to human social behavior. in the present study, we used stud males to assess the impact of repeated pair-bond formation and dissolution on the behaviors and neurobiology relevant to subsequent pair-bond formation. stud males were test ... | 2019 | 31042456 |
| behavioral and epigenetic consequences of oxytocin treatment at birth. | oxytocin is used in approximately half of all births in the united states during labor induction and/or augmentation. however, the effects of maternal oxytocin administration on offspring development have not been fully characterized. here, we used the socially monogamous prairie vole to examine the hypothesis that oxytocin exposure at birth can have long-term developmental consequences. maternally administered oxytocin increased methylation of the oxytocin receptor (oxtr) in the fetal brain. as ... | 2019 | 31049395 |
| effects of alcohol consumption on pair bond maintenance and potential neural substrates in female prairie voles. | discordant heavy alcohol use is a risk factor for disruption of intimate partner relationships. modeling these relationships in prairie voles indicates that biological effects of alcohol can contribute to this risk. in particular, alcohol consumption disrupted an established preference for a female partner in male prairie voles if the partner was drinking water, but not if the partner was drinking alcohol. the current study investigated the effects of alcohol consumption on pair bonds in female ... | 2019 | 31062856 |
| the negative effects of social bond disruption are partially ameliorated by sertraline administration in prairie voles. | negative social experiences influence both depression and cardiovascular dysfunction. many individuals who experience negative mood states or cardiovascular conditions have limited social support. therefore, investigation of drug treatments that may protect against the consequences of social stress will aid in designing effective treatment strategies. the current study used an animal model to evaluate the protective effect of sertraline administration on behavioral and cardiovascular consequence ... | 2019 | 31122602 |
| protective neuroendocrine effects of environmental enrichment and voluntary exercise against social isolation: evidence for mediation by limbic structures. | previous research indicates that loneliness and social isolation may contribute to behavioral disorders and neurobiological dysfunction. environmental enrichment (ee), including both cognitive and physical stimulation, may prevent some behavioral, endocrine, and cardiovascular consequences of social isolation; however, specific neural mechanisms for these benefits are still unclear. therefore, this study examined potential neuroendocrine protective effects of both ee and exercise. adult female p ... | 2019 | 31134849 |
| oxytocin receptor binding sites in the periphery of the neonatal prairie vole. | the oxytocin receptor (oxtr) has been observed in the periphery of neonatal c57bl/6j mice (mus musculus), including facial regions and the anogenital area. in those studies, ligand specificity was confirmed with a congenital oxtr knockout mouse as well as competitive binding techniques. the aim of this study was to determine if oxtr is present in the same peripheral sites in the neonatal prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) for cross-species comparisons. receptor autoradiography was performed on ... | 2019 | 31178680 |
| longitudinal trajectories and inter-parental dynamics of prairie vole biparental care. | for altricial mammalian species, early life social bonds are constructed principally between offspring and their mothers, and the mother-offspring relationship sets the trajectory for offspring bio-behavioral development. in the rare subset of monogamous and biparental species, offspring experience an expanded social network which includes a father. accordingly, in biparental species fathers also have the potential to influence trajectories of offspring development. previous semi-natural and lab ... | 2018 | 31396513 |
| the ventromedial hypothalamic circuitry and male alloparental behaviour in a socially monogamous rodent species. | as prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) display spontaneous biparental care, and the ventromedial hypothalamus (vmh) has been implicated in reproductive behaviour, we conducted experiments to test the hypothesis that the vmh neurochemical circuitry is involved in alloparental behaviours in male prairie voles. we compared alloparental behaviours of adult, sexually naïve male and female voles-both displayed licking/grooming, huddling and retrieving behaviours towards conspecific pups. we also stai ... | 2019 | 31423669 |
| evaluating the stability of individual variation in social and nonsocial behavioural types using prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) exhibit remarkable individual variation in social behaviour, suggesting differences in behavioural types. to date, however, there has been little assessment of whether these behavioural types are stable across test sessions, nor to what extent internal states and external contexts (domains) drive individual differences. here we examined the individual consistency of social (huddling) and non-social (distance moved) behaviour across repeated, long-duration tes ... | 2019 | 31520675 |
| the impact of early postnatal and juvenile social environments on the effects of chronic intranasal oxytocin in the prairie vole. | interactions between social experiences at different stages of development (e.g., with parents as juveniles and peers as subadults) can profoundly shape the expression of social behavior. rarely are the influences of more than one stage of developmental sensitivity to social environment investigated simultaneously. furthermore, oxytocin (ot) has an extraordinary effect on a breadth of social behaviors, activationally or organizationally. the use of intranasal ot (in-ot) has become increasingly c ... | 2019 | 31572140 |
| motivational drive in non-copulating and socially monogamous mammals. | motivational drives guide behaviors in animals of different species, including humans. some of these motivations, like looking for food and water, are crucial for the survival of the individual and hence for the preservation of the species. but there is at least another motivation that is also important for the survival of the species but not for the survival of the individual. undoubtedly, sexual motivation is important for individuals to find a mate and reproduce, thus ensuring the survival of ... | 2019 | 31636551 |
| sex-specific effects of perinatal firemaster® 550 (fm 550) exposure on socioemotional behavior in prairie voles. | the rapidly rising incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders with social deficits is raising concern that developmental exposure to environmental contaminants may be contributory. firemaster 550 (fm 550) is one of the most prevalent flame-retardant (fr) mixtures used in foam-based furniture and baby products and contains both brominated and organophosphate components. we and others have published evidence of developmental neurotoxicity and sex specific effects of fm 550 on anxiety-like and explo ... | 2020 | 31730801 |
| variation in the density of oxytocin receptors in the brain as mechanism of adaptation to specific social and reproductive strategies. | most species have predominant forms of social and reproductive behavior driven by many years of selection pressures and evolution. for example, rodent species can live in small or large groups, behave more tolerant or aggressively toward conspecifics (including newborns), and form or not bonds with other members of the group (including sexual partners). any of those behavioral adaptations could result in good fitness for the species, but could also require compromises such as sharing resources, ... | 2020 | 31734142 |
| analysis of prairie vole amylin reveals the importance of the n-terminus and residue 22 in amyloidogenicity and cytotoxicity. | amyloid formation by amylin contributes to β-cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. the features that control the amyloidogenicity and toxicity of amylin are not understood. not all species form islet amyloid, and its presence or absence correlates with the in vitro behavior of the polypeptide. rats do not develop type 2 diabetes or islet amyloid, and rat amylin is non-amyloidogenic, except at very high concentrations. this has led to the notion that rodent amylins are non-amyloidogenic. prairie v ... | 2020 | 31777253 |
| the prairie vole model of pair-bonding and its sensitivity to addictive substances. | the prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) is an extensively studied model for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying social affiliations and pair bonds. with clearly observed face and construct validity, this species offers translational insights into mechanisms involved in intimate relationships in humans. moreover, the prairie vole model promises to advance our understanding - as well as allow for predictions - of the effects of extraneous factors (not normally encountered in nature) on ... | 2019 | 31780991 |
| revisiting paternal absence: female alloparental replacement of fathers recovers partner preference formation in female, but not male prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster), biparental care of offspring is typical, and paternal absence in the pre-weaning development of offspring alters biobehavioral development. we sought to determine whether this altered development is due to the absence of specific paternal qualities or a general reduction in pup-directed care. we compared the biobehavioral development of pups reared under conditions of biparental (bpc), maternal-plus-alloparental (mpa; i.e., mother and older sister), and m ... | 2020 | 31823359 |
| social context alters spatial memory performance in free-living male prairie voles. | spatial memory is crucial for mating success because it enables males to locate potential mates and potential competitors in space. intraspecific competition and its varying intensity under certain conditions are potentially important for shaping spatial memory. for example, spatial memory could enable males to know where competitors are (contest competition), it could help males find mating partners (scramble competition) or both. we manipulated the intensity of intraspecific competition in two ... | 2019 | 31827827 |
| the monogamy paradox: what do love and sex have to do with it? | genetic monogamy is rare-at least at the level of a species-and monogamy can exist in the absence of sexual fidelity. rather than focusing on mating exclusivity, it has become common to use the term "social monogamy" to describe a cluster of social features, including the capacity for selective and lasting social bonds, central to what humans call "love." socially monogamous mammals often exhibit selective aggression toward strangers and form extended families. these features of social monogamy ... | 2018 | 31840025 |
| regulation of defeat-induced social avoidance by medial amygdala drd1 in male and female prairie voles. | social interaction with unfamiliar individuals is necessary for species-preserving behaviors such as finding mates and establishing social groups. however, social conflict is a potential negative outcome to interaction with a stranger that can be distressing enough to cause an individual to later avoid interactions with other unfamiliar conspecifics. unfortunately, stress research using a prominent model of social conflict, social defeat stress, has largely omitted female subjects. this has left ... | 2020 | 31862611 |
| prairie vole offspring only prefer mothers over fathers when mothers are a unique resource, yet fathers are the primary source of variation in parental care. | in biparental species, each parent represents a semi-independent source of variable caregiving. the nature of care may differ between parents, and the type of care offspring seek is likely to change across development. we asked if caregiving differed between prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) mothers and fathers, and which parent pups prefer over development. we categorized parents as high- or low-contact based on daily recordings of grooming and brooding behavior. pups were tested for their pr ... | 2020 | 31866260 |
| metagenome-assembled genome sequences of five strains from the microtus ochrogaster (prairie vole) fecal microbiome. | the prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) is an important model for the study of social monogamy and dual parental care of offspring. characterization of specific host species-microbe strain interactions is critical for understanding the effects of the microbiota on mood and behavior. the five metagenome-assembled genome sequences reported here represent an important step in defining the prairie vole microbiome. | 2020 | 31919172 |
| differential sensitivity of alcohol drinking and partner preference to a crfr1 antagonist in prairie voles and mice. | available pharmacotherapies to treat alcohol use disorder (aud) show limited efficacy. preclinical studies in mice and rats suggested that antagonists of the corticotropin releasing factor receptor 1 (crfr1) could be more efficacious for such treatment. however, clinical trials with crfr1 antagonists were not successful. while a number of potential explanations for this translational failure have been suggested, we hypothesized that the lack of success in clinical trials could be in part due to ... | 2020 | 31927017 |
| early postnatal gene expression in the developing neocortex of prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) is related to parental rearing style. | the earliest and most prevalent sensory experience includes tactile, thermal, and olfactory stimulation delivered to the young via contact with the mother, and in some mammals, the father. prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster), like humans, are biparental and serve as a model for understanding the impact of parent/offspring interactions on the developing brain. prairie voles also exhibit natural variation in the level of tactile stimulation delivered by the parents to the offspring, and this has ... | 2020 | 31930725 |
| oxytocin receptor antagonist reverses the blunting effect of pair bonding on fear learning in monogamous prairie voles. | social relationships among spouses, family members, and friends are known to affect physical and mental health. in particular, long-lasting bonds between socio-sexual partners have profound effects on cognitive, social, emotional, and physical well-being. we have previously reported that pair bonding in monogamous prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) is prevented by a single prolonged stress (sps) paradigm, which causes behavioral and endocrine symptoms resembling post-traumatic stress disorder ... | 2020 | 31935400 |
| physiological and behavioral responses to observing a sibling experience a direct stressor in prairie voles. | uncontrollable stress precipitates negative mental and physical health outcomes. furthermore, the vicarious experience of stress (e.g. observing another individual experience a direct stressor) can mimic the effects of directly experiencing the stressor. the current experiment examined the behavioral and physiological effects of the vicarious experience of stress using the socially monogamous prairie vole. male prairie voles were exposed to either an empty open field chamber, or a chamber in whi ... | 2020 | 32008380 |
| sexually dimorphic role of oxytocin in medaka mate choice. | oxytocin is a central neuromodulator required for facilitating mate preferences for familiar individuals in a monogamous rodent (prairie vole), irrespective of sex. while the role of oxytocin in mate choice is only understood in a few monogamous species, its function in nonmonogamous species, comprising the vast majority of vertebrate species, remains unclear. to address this issue, we evaluated the involvement of an oxytocin homolog (isotocin, referred herein as oxt) in mate choice in medaka fi ... | 2020 | 32071244 |
| female degus show high sociality but no preference for familiar peers. | group-living animals vary in social behavior across multiple dimensions, including in the selectivity of social interactions with familiar versus unfamiliar peers. standardized behavioral tests can be used to tease apart different dimensions of behavior. these serve a dual function-on one hand, helping to isolate behavioral factors that may support collective behavior in natural habitats, and, on another, providing a basis for comparative approaches to understanding physiological mechanisms of b ... | 2020 | 32145271 |
| assessing effects of oxytocin on alcohol consumption in socially housed prairie voles using radio frequency tracking. | alcohol use disorder affects millions of people each year. currently approved pharmacotherapies have limited success in treating this disorder. evidence suggests that this lack of success is partly due to how these pharmacotherapies are tested in preclinical settings. the vast majority of preclinical studies assessing the effects of pharmacotherapies on alcohol or drug self-administration are done in individually housed animals. however, it is known that alcohol and drug intake are heavily influ ... | 2020 | 32160654 |
| stress in groups: lessons from non-traditional rodent species and housing models. | a major feature of life in groups is that individuals experience social stressors of varying intensity and type. social stress can have profound effects on health, social behavior, and ongoing relationships. relationships can also buffer the experience of exogenous stressors. social stress has most commonly been investigated in dyadic contexts in mice and rats that produce intense stress. here we review findings from studies of diverse rodents and non-traditional group housing paradigms, focusin ... | 2020 | 32278793 |
| a neuronal signature for monogamous reunion. | pair-bond formation depends vitally on neuromodulatory signaling within the nucleus accumbens, but the neuronal dynamics underlying this behavior remain unclear. using 1-photon in vivo ca2+ imaging in monogamous prairie voles, we found that pair bonding does not elicit differences in overall nucleus accumbens ca2+ activity. instead, we identified distinct ensembles of neurons in this region that are recruited during approach to either a partner or a novel vole. the partner-approach neuronal ense ... | 2020 | 32381740 |
| oxytocin, vasopressin and social behavior in the age of genome editing: a comparative perspective. | behavioral neuroendocrinology has a rich history of using diverse model organisms to elucidate general principles and evolution of hormone-brain-behavior relationships. the oxytocin and vasopressin systems have been studied in many species, revealing their role in regulating social behaviors. oxytocin and vasopressin receptors show remarkable species and individual differences in distribution in the brain that have been linked to diversity in social behaviors. new technologies allow for unpreced ... | 2020 | 32544402 |
| culture of neurospheres derived from the neurogenic niches in adult prairie voles. | neurospheres are primary cell aggregates that comprise neural stem cells and progenitor cells. these 3d structures are an excellent tool to determine the differentiation and proliferation potential of neural stem cells, as well as to generate cell lines than can be assayed over time. also, neurospheres can create a niche (in vitro) that allows the modeling of the dynamic changing environment, such as varying growth factors, hormones, neurotransmitters, among others. microtus ochrogaster (prairie ... | 2020 | 32597870 |
| early life sleep disruption is a risk factor for increased ethanol drinking after acute footshock stress in prairie voles. | early postnatal experiences are important for shaping the development of the stress response and may contribute to the later emergence of alcohol use disorders. we have previously found that early life sleep disruption impairs social development and alters gaba neurons in the brain of adult prairie voles, a socially monogamous rodent that displays natural ethanol preference in the laboratory. however, it is unclear whether these effects on social behavior are due, in part, to overall anhedonia a ... | 2020 | 32700922 |
| the value of comparative animal research: krogh's principle facilitates scientific discoveries. | biomedical research is dominated by relatively few nonhuman animals to investigate healthy and disease conditions. research has overrelied on these models due to their well-described genomes, the capability to control specific genes, and the high rate of reproduction. however, recent advances in large-scale molecular sequencing experiments have revealed, in some cases, the limited similarities in experimental outcomes observed in common rodents (i.e., mice) compared with humans. the value of mor ... | 2018 | 32743064 |
| clipping hind paws under isoflurane sedation as a useful tool for evaluation of chronic pain in cci animals. | several behavioral tests have been devised to assess pain in rodent models, one of which is the chronic constriction injury (cci) model of the sciatic nerve, including the sensitivity of the paw evaluated through reflex reactions to heat or mechanical stimuli. however, because of their high restless activity and responsiveness to humans, it is tough to give the moving animals consistent stimuli to get consistent and reliable reactions. | 2020 | 32754428 |
| behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of disrupting a long-term monogamous social bond in aging prairie voles. | social support from a spouse, long-term partner, or someone who provides emotional or instrumental support may protect against consequences of aging, including mediating behavioral stress reactivity and altering neurobiological process that underlie short-term stress responses. therefore, long-term social bonding may have behavioral and neurobiological benefits. the socially monogamous prairie vole provides a valuable experimental model for investigating the benefits of long-term social bonds on ... | 2020 | 32820956 |
| do olfactory cues from males with different avpr1a genotypes affect female mate choice in prairie voles, microtus ochrogaster? | multiple hypotheses have been proposed to explain female mate choice and some of the mechanisms underlying these choices. females prairie voles display social and mating preferences for males with longer avpr1a microsatellite alleles, which provide more paternal care and exhibit less interest in novel females compared to males with shorter avpr1a microsatellite alleles. the cues females use to differentiate among males with different avpr1a genotypes are unknown, so the objective of our study wa ... | 2020 | 32882344 |
| how prior pair-bonding experience affects future bonding behavior in monogamous prairie voles. | monogamous prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) form mating-based pair bonds. although wild prairie voles rarely re-pair following loss of a partner, laboratory studies have shown that previous pairing and mating does not negate the ability to form a new partner preference. however, little is known about how prior bond experience may alter the trajectory and display of a new pair bond. in the present study, we disrupted an initial pair bond by separating partners and then varied the amount of ti ... | 2020 | 32910950 |
| paternal deprivation impairs social behavior putatively via epigenetic modification to lateral septum vasopressin receptor. | although it is well appreciated that the early-life social environment asserts subsequent long-term consequences on offspring brain and behavior, the specific mechanisms that account for this relationship remain poorly understood. using a novel assay that forced biparental pairs or single mothers to prioritize caring for offspring or themselves, we investigated the impact of parental variation on adult expression of nonapeptide-modulated behaviors in prairie voles. we demonstrated that single mo ... | 2020 | 32917597 |
| effects of mating and social exposure on cell proliferation in the adult male prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster). | microtus ochrogaster is a rodent with a monogamous reproductive strategy characterized by strong pair bond formation after 6 h of mating. here, we determine whether mating-induced pair bonding increases cell proliferation in the subventricular zone (svz), rostral migratory stream (rms), and dentate gyrus (dg) of the hippocampus in male voles. males were assigned to one of the four groups: (1) control: males were placed alone in a clean cage; (2) social exposure to a female (se m/f): males that c ... | 2020 | 33029122 |
| blueprints for bonding? new genetic tools to parse the neural basis of pair bonding in prairie voles. | 2020 | 33092783 | |
| investigation of oxtr-expressing neurons projecting to nucleus accumbens using oxtr-ires-cre knock-in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | social bonds such as parent-infant attachment or pair bonds can be critical for mental and physical well-being. the monogamous prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster) has proven useful for examining the neural substrates regulating social behaviors, including social bonding. oxytocin (oxt) and oxytocin receptor (oxtr) play critical roles in alloparental care, pair bonding and consoling behavior in prairie voles. while oxtr in a few regions, such as the nucleus accumbnes (nacc), prefrontal cortex (pf ... | 2020 | 33092784 |
| breeding patterns of female prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster) displaying alternative reproductive tactics. | individuals of either sex may display alternative behaviors to obtain copulations, but few studies have examined the breeding patterns of females and males in populations where individuals of both sexes exhibit alternative reproductive tactics (arts). in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster), most adults are territorial, residing at a single nest site either as male-female pairs or as solitary individuals. however, some adults adopt nonterritorial, wandering tactics. during two field seasons moni ... | 2020 | 33100928 |
| effects of systemic endocannabinoid manipulation on social and exploratory behavior in prairie voles (microtus ochrogaster). | anandamide is an endocannabinoid that contributes to certain aspects of social behavior, like play and reward, by binding to cannabinoid receptor type 1 (cb1). most interesting is the recent discovery that anandamide may be mobilized by oxytocin receptor activation under certain contexts, particularly in the nucleus accumbens. | 2020 | 33130926 |
| the role of dopamine signaling in prairie vole peer relationships. | dopamine signaling mediates the formation of some types of social relationships, including reproductive pair bonds in the socially monogamous prairie vole (microtus ochrogaster). in addition to these pair bonds with mates, prairie voles demonstrate selective preferences for familiar same-sex peers. the dependence of peer relationships on dopamine signaling has not been tested, and the mechanisms supporting these relationships may differ from those underlying pair bonds. we examined the effects o ... | 2020 | 33152338 |