Vitale Erika M, Tbaba Amina H, Tam Kaitlyn, Gossman Kyle R, Smith Adam S
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2025 May 15. doi: 10.1111/nyas.15363.
The prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) is a monogamous rodent species which displays selective social behaviors to conspecifics after establishing a pair-bonded relationship, specifically partner-directed affiliation and stranger-directed aggression. This social selectivity relies on the ability of an individual to respond appropriately to a social context and requires salience detection and valence assignment. The anterior insular cortex (aIC) has been implicated in stimulus processing and categorization across a variety of contexts, but its regulation of pair bond-induced social selectivity in prairie voles has not been studied. Here, we examined whether neural activity and gene expression in the aIC change during male-female pairings in male prairie voles. Opposite-sex pairing was characterized by changes to calcium and dopamine transients in the aIC that corresponded with the display of social selectivity across pair bond maturation. Furthermore, D1 and D2 receptor mRNA expression was significantly higher in males after 48 h of cohabitation with a female partner compared to same-sex housed males, and D2 mRNA remained elevated after a week of cohabitation. Together, these results implicate a role for dopamine and its receptors in the aIC across the transition from early- to late-phase pair bonding.
草原田鼠（Microtus ochrogaster）是一种实行一夫一妻制的啮齿动物，在建立配偶关系后，会对同种个体表现出选择性的社会行为，特别是对伴侣的定向依恋和对陌生个体的攻击性。这种社会选择性依赖于个体对社会环境做出适当反应的能力，并且需要显著性检测和效价分配。前脑岛皮质（aIC）已被证明参与了各种情境下的刺激处理和分类，但它对草原田鼠配偶关系诱导的社会选择性的调节尚未得到研究。在这里，我们研究了雄性草原田鼠在雌雄配对过程中，aIC中的神经活动和基因表达是否发生变化。异性配对的特征是aIC中钙和多巴胺瞬变的变化，这些变化与配偶关系成熟过程中社会选择性的表现相对应。此外，与同性饲养的雄性相比，与雌性伴侣同居48小时后，雄性的D1和D2受体mRNA表达显著更高，并且同居一周后D2 mRNA仍保持升高。总之，这些结果表明多巴胺及其受体在从早期到晚期配偶关系转变过程中的aIC中发挥作用。
