Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, United States.
Elife. 2019 May 14;8:e44026. doi: 10.7554/eLife.44026.
Early adverse experiences often have devastating consequences. However, whether preweaning paternal deprivation (PD) affects emotional and social behaviors and their underlying neural mechanisms remain unexplored. Using monogamous mandarin voles, we found that PD increased anxiety-like behavior and attenuated social preference in adulthood. PD also decreased the number of oxytocin (OT)-positive neurons projecting from the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and reduced the levels of the medial prefrontal cortex OT receptor protein in females and of the OT receptor and V1a receptor proteins in males. Intra-prelimbic cortical OT injections reversed the PD-induced changes in anxiety-like behavior and social preferences. Optogenetic activation of the prelimbic cortex OT terminals from PVN OT neurons reversed the PD-induced changes in emotion and social preference behaviors, whereas optogenetic inhibition was anxiogenic and impaired social preference in naive voles. These findings demonstrate that PD increases anxiety-like behavior and attenuates social preferences through the involvement of PVN OT neuron projections to the prelimbic cortex.
早期不良经历通常会产生毁灭性的后果。然而，早期剥夺父爱（PD）是否会影响情绪和社交行为及其潜在的神经机制仍未被探索。使用单配制的布氏田鼠，我们发现 PD 增加了成年期的焦虑样行为并减弱了社交偏好。PD 还减少了从室旁核（PVN）投射到内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）的催产素（OT）阳性神经元的数量，并降低了雌性 OT 受体蛋白和雄性 OT 受体和 V1a 受体蛋白的水平。内侧眶额皮质 OT 注射逆转了 PD 引起的焦虑样行为和社交偏好的变化。PVN OT 神经元的前扣带回皮质 OT 末梢的光遗传学激活逆转了 PD 引起的情绪和社交偏好行为的变化，而光遗传学抑制则引起焦虑并损害了幼稚田鼠的社交偏好。这些发现表明，PD 通过 PVN OT 神经元投射到前扣带回皮质来增加焦虑样行为并减弱社交偏好。
