Lukas Michael, Neumann Inga D
Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
J Neurosci Methods. 2014 Aug 30;234:101-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2014.03.013. Epub 2014 Apr 4.
Research concerning non-reproductive sociability in rodents is mainly restricted to assessing the effects of oxytocin (OXT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) in male rats and mice. Comparable studies on natural social preference and social avoidance in females are substantially lacking.
Here, we adapted a behavioral paradigm for monitoring social preference of female rats consisting of two consecutive exposures to either non-social or social stimuli. Further, to induce stimulus-specific social avoidance, female rats were exposed to a single 10-min maternal defeat by a lactating dam.
Social preference towards same-sex conspecifics in female rats was shown to be independent of the estrous cycle and even more pronounced than in male rats. Intracerebroventricular (icv) application of OXT, AVP, or their selective receptor antagonists or agonists, did not alter naturally-occurring social preference in female rats. Stimulus-specific social avoidance could be induced by prior exposure to a lactating rat: an effect that could not be reversed/overcome by icv OXT.
COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S): The female social preference paradigm for rats established in this study detected subtle sex differences in social preference behavior of rats. Further, stimulus-specific social deficits could be induced in female rats using an acute exposure to social defeat - as previously observed in male rodents.
Female rats show strong social preference behavior, which can be prevented by social defeat, but does not seem to be regulated by the OXT or AVP systems. Accordingly, icv application of synthetic OXT does not reverse maternal defeat-induced social avoidance in female rats.
关于啮齿动物非生殖性社交能力的研究主要局限于评估催产素（OXT）和精氨酸加压素（AVP）对雄性大鼠和小鼠的影响。关于雌性动物自然社交偏好和社交回避的类似研究则严重缺乏。
在此，我们采用了一种行为范式来监测雌性大鼠的社交偏好，该范式包括连续两次暴露于非社交或社交刺激。此外，为了诱导特定刺激的社交回避，让雌性大鼠接受一次由泌乳母鼠造成的10分钟母源性挫败。
雌性大鼠对同性同种个体的社交偏好被证明与发情周期无关，甚至比雄性大鼠更为明显。脑室内（icv）注射OXT、AVP或它们的选择性受体拮抗剂或激动剂，并不会改变雌性大鼠自然出现的社交偏好。先前暴露于泌乳大鼠可诱导特定刺激的社交回避：这种效应不能被icv注射OXT逆转/克服。
本研究中建立的雌性大鼠社交偏好范式检测到了大鼠社交偏好行为中细微的性别差异。此外，正如之前在雄性啮齿动物中观察到的那样，通过急性暴露于社交挫败，可以在雌性大鼠中诱导出特定刺激的社交缺陷。
雌性大鼠表现出强烈的社交偏好行为，这种行为可被社交挫败所抑制，但似乎不受OXT或AVP系统的调节。因此，icv注射合成OXT并不能逆转母源性挫败诱导的雌性大鼠社交回避。
