Effects of Post-Weaning Social Isolation on Social Behaviors and Oxytocinergic Activity in Male and Female Rats
Effects of Post-Weaning Social Isolation on Social Behaviors and Oxytocinergic Activity in Male and Female Rats
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断奶后社会隔离对雄性和雌性大鼠社会行为和催产素活性的影响
DOI：
10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01646
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发表时间：
2019
期刊：
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Kazunari Yuri
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kenjiro Tanaka;Yoji Osako;Kou Takahashi;Chiharu Hidaka;Koichi Tomita;Kazunari Yuri
目的断奶后社会剥夺被认为会引起与成年期焦虑和应激反应相关的行为和神经元改变。然而，社会剥夺对社会性发展的影响知之甚少。我们研究了社会剥夺对随后的社会行为和催产素活性的影响，使用社会隔离（断奶后约两个月）的雄性和雌性rats.Main方法的行为进行了分析，使用社会偏好测试和社会方法测试。在室旁核（PVN）和视上核（SON）进行免疫组织化学研究，以研究社会隔离对这些区域催产素活性的影响。催产素能活性通过量化暴露于新同种后表达Fos的催产素神经元的数量来测量。在本研究的所有实验中，卵巢切除的女性被用于社会stimulation.Key findingsThe行为结果表明，孤立饲养的女性，但不是男性，显示受损的社会偏好和减少社会的方法卵巢切除的女性，与配对饲养组相比，这表明低优先级的处理社会与非社会刺激和低动机与陌生人接触，分别。免疫组化结果表明，社会隔离减少了女性PVN中催产素神经元中Fos阳性细胞的数量和比例，但在男性中则不然。在SON中，Fos阳性率下降，在隔离饲养的女性，但不是在男性中，相比对饲养group.SignificancePost-weaning社会隔离改变了社会行为和催产素能活性的雌性大鼠，这表明，在雌性大鼠断奶后的社会经验有助于社会性的发展。这些发现可能会影响人类社会功能障碍的治疗。
AimsPost-weaning social deprivation is known to induce behavioral and neuronal alterations associated with anxiety and stress responses in adulthood. However, the effects of social deprivation on the development of sociability are poorly understood. We examined the effects of social deprivation on subsequent social behaviors and oxytocinergic activity using socially-isolated (approximately two months post-weaning) male and female rats.Main methodsThe behaviors were analyzed using a social preference test and a social approach test. Immunohistochemical investigations were conducted in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SON) to examine the effects of social isolation on oxytocinergic activity in these regions. Oxytocinergic activity was measured by quantifying the number of oxytocin neurons expressing Fos following exposure to a novel conspecific. In all of the experiments of this study, ovariectomized females were used for social stimuli.Key findingsThe behavioral results show that isolation-reared females, but not males, displayed impaired social preference and decreased social approach towards ovariectomized females, compared with the pair-reared group, suggesting low priority of processing social versus non-social stimuli and low motivation for contact with a stranger, respectively. The immunohistochemical results show that social isolation decreased both the number and the ratio of Fos-positive cells in oxytocin neurons in the PVN in females, but not in males, following exposure to ovariectomized females. In the SON, the Fos-positive ratio was decreased in isolation-reared females, but not in males, compared with the pair-reared group.SignificancePost-weaning social isolation changed social behaviors and oxytocinergic activity in female rats, suggesting that in female rats post-weaning social experiences contribute to the development of sociability. These findings could impact the treatment of social dysfunction in humans.