Erickson Travis, Franks Henry, Young Larry, Lester Deranda
Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
bioRxiv. 2025 Aug 11:2025.08.11.669767. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.11.669767.
Deficits in social behavior, such as reduced motivation and social avoidance, are key symptoms in several psychiatric disorders. Distinct modes of reward, such as drug and social, may rely on different dopamine release patterns in the mesolimbic pathway. We investigated the relationship between social reward behaviors and dopamine release elicited by phasic and tonic stimulation patterns in C57BL/6J mice. Social conditioned place preference was used to assess motivation for social interaction, and in vivo fixed potential amperometry was used to measure nucleus accumbens dopamine release before and after cocaine (10 mg/kg, ip). Additional measures included the frequency and duration of social interactions during conditioning sessions, with the first and last session representing novel and familiar social interactions respectively. No relationship was found between baseline (pre-cocaine) dopamine and social place preference in either sex. However, in males, social place preference negatively correlated with cocaine-induced phasic dopamine release, indicating that increased social motivation was associated with a reduced phasic dopaminergic response to cocaine. In contrast, greater novel interaction was associated with increased baseline dopamine elicited by tonic stimulations. These relationships were not observed in females. Overall, these findings suggest distinct, sex-dependent roles for phasic and tonic dopamine release in mediating social reward.
社交行为缺陷，如动机降低和社交回避，是几种精神疾病的关键症状。不同的奖励模式，如药物奖励和社交奖励，可能依赖于中脑边缘通路中不同的多巴胺释放模式。我们研究了C57BL/6J小鼠中社交奖励行为与由相位性和紧张性刺激模式引发的多巴胺释放之间的关系。社交条件性位置偏爱被用于评估社交互动的动机，体内固定电位安培法被用于测量给予可卡因（10毫克/千克，腹腔注射）前后伏隔核多巴胺的释放。其他测量指标包括条件反射训练期间社交互动的频率和持续时间，其中第一个和最后一个训练阶段分别代表新奇和熟悉的社交互动。在任何一种性别中，均未发现基线（可卡因给药前）多巴胺与社交位置偏爱之间存在关联。然而，在雄性小鼠中，社交位置偏爱与可卡因诱导的相位性多巴胺释放呈负相关，这表明社交动机增强与对可卡因的相位性多巴胺能反应降低有关。相反，更多的新奇互动与紧张性刺激引发的基线多巴胺增加有关。在雌性小鼠中未观察到这些关系。总体而言，这些发现表明相位性和紧张性多巴胺释放在介导社交奖励方面具有不同的、性别依赖性作用。
