Wilson J H
Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2001 Jun;1(2):199-205. doi: 10.3758/cabn.1.2.199.
Prolactin is released in response to physical and psychological stress, the latter of which involves an animal's interpretation of its environment as potentially dangerous. This interpretation might be altered by social buffering, as defined by the presence of a social partner. In support of this claim, I previously found that the presence of a conspecific during exposure to the open field caused lower levels of prolactin in juvenile rats than did exposure to the open field alone. Because testing with a conspecific allowed the animals to touch, physical contact may have been necessary for the reduction of prolactin. To test this hypothesis, juvenile male and female rats in the present study were exposed to the open field (1) alone, (2) with a conspecific separated by a Plexiglas partition, or (3) with a conspecific without a partition. Touch was necessary to reduce stress as measured by prolactin levels.
催乳素是在身体和心理应激反应时释放的，后者涉及动物将其环境解读为具有潜在危险性。这种解读可能会因社会缓冲作用而改变，社会缓冲作用的定义是有一个社会伙伴在场。为支持这一说法，我之前发现，在幼鼠暴露于旷场时，有同种个体在场时其催乳素水平低于单独暴露于旷场时。因为与同种个体一起测试时动物可以接触，所以身体接触可能是催乳素水平降低所必需的。为了验证这一假设，本研究中的幼年雄性和雌性大鼠被暴露于旷场环境中：（1）单独暴露，（2）与同种个体隔着有机玻璃隔板暴露，或（3）与同种个体无隔板暴露。如通过催乳素水平所测量的，接触对于减轻应激是必要的。
