Guoynes Caleigh D, Marler Catherine A
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2023 May 1;335:114230. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2023.114230. Epub 2023 Feb 11.
Peri-adolescence is a critical developmental stage marked by profound changes in the valence of social interactions with parents and peers. We hypothesized that the oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) systems, known for influencing social behavior, would be involved in the maintenance and breaking of bonding behavior expressed by very early peri-adolescent males and females. In rodents, OXT is associated with mother-pup bonding and may promote social attachment to members of the natal territory. AVP, on the other hand, can act in contrasting ways to OXT and has been associated with aggression and territoriality. Specifically, we predicted that in peri-adolescent male and female juveniles of the biparental and territorial California mouse (Peromyscus californicus), a) OXT would increase the social preferences for the parents over unfamiliar age-matched peers (one male and one female), and b) AVP would break the parent-offspring bond and either increase time in the neutral chamber and/or approach to their unfamiliar and novel peers. We examined anxiety and exploratory behavior using an elevated plus maze and a novel object task as a control. Peri-adolescent mice were administered an acute intranasal (IN) treatment of 0.5 IU/kg IN AVP, 0.5 IU/kg IN OXT, or saline control; five minutes later, the behavioral tests were conducted. As predicted, we found that IN OXT enhanced social preference for parents; however, this was only in male and not female peri-adolescent mice. IN AVP did not influence social preference in either sex. These effects appear specific to social behavior and not anxiety, as neither IN OXT nor AVP influenced behavior during the elevated plus maze or novel object tasks. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence indicating that OXT may play a role in promoting peri-adolescent social preferences for parents and delaying weaning in males.
青春期前后是一个关键的发育阶段，其特征是与父母和同伴的社交互动效价发生深刻变化。我们假设，以影响社会行为而闻名的催产素（OXT）和加压素（AVP）系统，会参与青春期早期雄性和雌性小鼠所表现出的依恋行为的维持和打破。在啮齿动物中，OXT与母婴依恋有关，并可能促进对出生地成员的社会依恋。另一方面，AVP的作用方式与OXT相反，与攻击性和领地性有关。具体而言，我们预测，在双亲制且具有领地意识的加利福尼亚小鼠（加州林鼠）的青春期前后的雄性和雌性幼崽中，a）OXT会增加对父母而非陌生同龄（一雄一雌）同伴的社会偏好，b）AVP会打破亲子关系，并增加在中性室的时间和/或接近陌生新奇同伴的时间。我们使用高架十字迷宫和新物体任务作为对照来检查焦虑和探索行为。对青春期前后的小鼠进行0.5 IU/kg的AVP鼻内（IN）急性处理、0.5 IU/kg的OXT鼻内急性处理或生理盐水对照；五分钟后，进行行为测试。正如预测的那样，我们发现鼻内给予OXT增强了对父母的社会偏好；然而，这仅在青春期前后的雄性小鼠中出现，而雌性小鼠没有。鼻内给予AVP对两性的社会偏好均无影响。这些影响似乎特定于社会行为而非焦虑，因为鼻内给予OXT和AVP在高架十字迷宫或新物体任务中均未影响行为。据我们所知，这是首个表明OXT可能在促进青春期前后对父母的社会偏好以及延迟雄性小鼠断奶方面发挥作用的证据。
