Lim Miranda M, Young Larry J
Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and 954 Gatewood Road Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Horm Behav. 2006 Nov;50(4):506-17. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.06.028. Epub 2006 Aug 4.
Social relationships are essential for maintaining human mental health, yet little is known about the brain mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of social bonds. Animal models are powerful tools for investigating the neurobiological mechanisms regulating the cognitive processes leading to the development of social relationships and for potentially extending our understanding of the human condition. In this review, we discuss the roles of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in the regulation of social bonding as well as related social behaviors which culminate in the formation of social relationships in animal models. The formation of social bonds is a hierarchical process involving social motivation and approach, the processing of social stimuli and formation of social memories, and the social attachment itself. Oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated in each of these processes. Specifically, these peptides facilitate social affiliation and parental nurturing behavior, are essential for social recognition in rodents, and are involved in the formation of selective mother-infant bonds in sheep and pair bonds in monogamous voles. The convergence of evidence from these animal studies makes oxytocin and vasopressin attractive candidates for the neural modulation of human social relationships as well as potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders associated with disruptions in social behavior, including autism.
社会关系对于维持人类心理健康至关重要，但我们对参与社会关系发展和维持的大脑机制知之甚少。动物模型是研究调节导致社会关系发展的认知过程的神经生物学机制以及潜在扩展我们对人类状况理解的有力工具。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了神经肽催产素和加压素在调节社会联系以及相关社会行为中的作用，这些行为最终在动物模型中形成社会关系。社会联系的形成是一个分层过程，涉及社会动机和接近、社会刺激的处理和社会记忆的形成，以及社会依恋本身。催产素和加压素已被证明参与了这些过程中的每一个。具体而言，这些肽促进社会联系和亲子养育行为，对啮齿动物的社会识别至关重要，并参与绵羊中选择性母婴联系和一夫一妻制田鼠中配偶联系的形成。这些动物研究的证据趋同使得催产素和加压素成为人类社会关系神经调节的有吸引力的候选者，以及治疗与社会行为破坏相关的精神疾病（包括自闭症）的潜在治疗靶点。
