Black Alexis M, Komatsu Natsumi, Zhao Jiaxuan, Taskey Scarlet R, Serrano Nicole S, Sharma Ruchira, Manoli Devanand S, Landry Markita P, Beery Annaliese K
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Curr Biol. 2025 Sep 8;35(17):4178-4187.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.042. Epub 2025 Aug 8.
Friendships, or selective peer relationships, are a vital component of healthy social functioning in humans, and deficits in these relationships are associated with negative physical and mental health consequences. Like humans, prairie voles are among the few mammalian species that form selective social bonds with both peers and mates, making them an excellent model for the mechanistic investigation of selective social attachment. Here, we explored the role of oxytocin receptors in selective peer attachment using female prairie voles lacking a functional oxytocin receptor gene (Oxtr). We found that Oxtr animals exhibited significant delays in peer relationship formation compared with wild-type animals. Oxytocin receptor function also contributed to the maintenance of peer bonds, as Oxtr voles displayed reduced relationship stability and lost selective attachments rapidly in a multi-chamber, group-living habitat. Oxtr voles also showed deficits in general social reward as well as selective social reward for a peer partner over an unfamiliar conspecific. Evoked oxytocin release in the nucleus accumbens was reduced in male and female Oxtr animals compared with their wild-type counterparts, indicating that these voles do not have a compensatory increase in oxytocinergic signaling. Together, these data indicate that oxytocin receptors influence the formation, persistence, and reward value of peer relationships.
友谊，或者说选择性同伴关系，是人类健康社交功能的重要组成部分，而这些关系的缺陷与负面的身心健康后果相关。与人类一样，草原田鼠是少数几种能与同伴和配偶形成选择性社会纽带的哺乳动物之一，这使它们成为研究选择性社会依恋机制的绝佳模型。在此，我们利用缺乏功能性催产素受体基因（Oxtr）的雌性草原田鼠，探究了催产素受体在选择性同伴依恋中的作用。我们发现，与野生型动物相比，Oxtr基因缺失的动物在同伴关系形成方面表现出显著延迟。催产素受体功能也有助于维持同伴关系，因为在多室群居环境中，Oxtr基因缺失的田鼠表现出关系稳定性降低，并迅速失去选择性依恋。Oxtr基因缺失的田鼠在一般社会奖励以及对同伴伙伴而非陌生同种个体的选择性社会奖励方面也存在缺陷。与野生型同类相比，雄性和雌性Oxtr基因缺失的动物伏隔核中诱发的催产素释放减少，这表明这些田鼠在催产素能信号传导方面没有代偿性增加。总之，这些数据表明催产素受体影响同伴关系的形成、维持和奖励价值。
