Pouso Paula, Cabana Álvaro, Goodson James L, Silva Ana
Departamento de Histología y Embriología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Unidad Bases Neurales de la Conducta, Departamento de Neurofisiología Celular y Molecular, IIBCE, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Front Integr Neurosci. 2019 Aug 13;13:37. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2019.00037. eCollection 2019.
Social behavior exhibits a wide diversity among vertebrates though it is controlled by a conserved neural network, the social behavior network (SBN). The activity of the SBN is shaped by hypothalamic nonapeptides of the vasopressin-oxytocin family. The weakly electric fish emits social electrical signals during courtship. Three types of vasotocin (AVT) cells occur in the preoptic area (POA), one of the SBN nodes. In this study, we aimed to test if POA neurons of the nucleus preopticus ventricularis anterior (PPa) and posterior (PPp), and in particular AVT+ cells, were activated by social stimuli using a 2-day behavioral protocol. During the first night, male-female dyads were recorded to identify courting males. During the second night, these males were divided in two experimental conditions: isolated and social (male with a female). Both AVT cells and the cellular activation of the POA neurons (measured by FOS) were identified. We found that the PPa of social males showed more FOS+ cells than the PPa of isolated males, and that the PPa had more AVT+ cells in social males than in isolated males. The double-immunolabeling for AVT and FOS indicated the activation of AVT+ neurons. No significant differences in the activation of AVT+ cells were found between conditions, but a clear association was observed between the number of AVT+ cells and certain behavioral traits. In addition, a different activation of AVT+ cell-types was observed for social vs. isolated males. We conclude that the POA of exhibits changes induced by social stimuli in reproductive context, involving an increase in AVT production and a different profile activation among AVT+ cell populations.
尽管脊椎动物的社会行为由一个保守的神经网络——社会行为网络（SBN）控制，但其社会行为仍表现出广泛的多样性。SBN的活动受血管加压素 - 催产素家族的下丘脑九肽调节。弱电鱼在求偶期间会发出社会电信号。视前区（POA）是SBN的节点之一，其中存在三种类型的血管紧张素（AVT）细胞。在本研究中，我们旨在通过一个为期2天的行为实验，测试视前室前核（PPa）和视前室后核（PPp）的POA神经元，特别是AVT +细胞，是否会被社会刺激激活。在第一个晚上，记录雌雄配对以识别求偶的雄性。在第二个晚上，将这些雄性分为两个实验条件：隔离和社交（雄性与雌性在一起）。同时识别AVT细胞和POA神经元的细胞激活情况（通过FOS测量）。我们发现，社交雄性的PPa中FOS +细胞比隔离雄性的PPa更多，并且社交雄性的PPa中AVT +细胞比隔离雄性更多。AVT和FOS的双重免疫标记表明AVT +神经元被激活。不同条件下AVT +细胞的激活没有显著差异，但观察到AVT +细胞数量与某些行为特征之间存在明显关联。此外，观察到社交雄性与隔离雄性的AVT +细胞类型激活情况不同。我们得出结论，在生殖环境中，POA会表现出由社会刺激引起的变化，包括AVT产生增加以及AVT +细胞群体之间不同的激活模式。
