Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Endocrinology. 2021 Feb 1;162(2). doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqaa223.
Pair bonds represent some of the strongest attachments we form as humans. These relationships positively modulate health and well-being. Conversely, the loss of a spouse is an emotionally painful event that leads to numerous deleterious physiological effects, including increased risk for cardiac dysfunction and mental illness. Much of our understanding of the neuroendocrine basis of pair bonding has come from studies of monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), laboratory-amenable rodents that, unlike laboratory mice and rats, form lifelong pair bonds. Specifically, research using prairie voles has delineated a role for multiple neuromodulatory and neuroendocrine systems in the formation and maintenance of pair bonds, including the oxytocinergic, dopaminergic, and opioidergic systems. However, while these studies have contributed to our understanding of selective attachment, few studies have examined how interactions among these 3 systems may be essential for expression of complex social behaviors, such as pair bonding. Therefore, in this review, we focus on how the social neuropeptide, oxytocin, interacts with classical reward system modulators, including dopamine and endogenous opioids, during bond formation and maintenance. We argue that an understanding of these interactions has important clinical implications and is required to understand the evolution and encoding of complex social behaviors more generally. Finally, we provide a brief consideration of future directions, including a discussion of the possible roles that glia, specifically microglia, may have in modulating social behavior by acting as a functional regulator of these 3 neuromodulatory systems.
伴侣关系代表了我们作为人类形成的一些最强烈的依恋。这些关系对健康和幸福有积极的调节作用。相反，配偶的丧失是一种情感上痛苦的事件，会导致许多有害的生理效应，包括心脏功能障碍和精神疾病的风险增加。我们对伴侣关系的神经内分泌基础的理解很大程度上来自对一夫一妻制草原田鼠（Microtus ochrogaster）的研究，这是一种实验室可操作的啮齿动物，与实验室小鼠和大鼠不同，它们形成终生的伴侣关系。具体来说，使用草原田鼠的研究描绘了多种神经调质和神经内分泌系统在伴侣关系的形成和维持中的作用，包括催产素能、多巴胺能和阿片能系统。然而，尽管这些研究有助于我们理解选择性依恋，但很少有研究探讨这 3 个系统之间的相互作用如何对复杂社会行为（如伴侣关系）的表达至关重要。因此，在这篇综述中，我们重点讨论了社交神经肽催产素如何在伴侣关系的形成和维持过程中与经典奖励系统调节剂（包括多巴胺和内源性阿片类物质）相互作用。我们认为，理解这些相互作用具有重要的临床意义，并且对于更全面地理解复杂社会行为的进化和编码是必需的。最后，我们提供了对未来方向的简要考虑，包括讨论胶质细胞（特别是小胶质细胞）通过作为这 3 个神经调质系统的功能调节剂，可能在调节社会行为方面发挥的可能作用。
