Role of Vaospressin and Oxytocin in Development of Partner Preferences and Parental Behavior

加压素和催产素在伴侣偏好和父母行为发展中的作用

• 批准号: 9808814
• 负责人: Theresa Lee
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-09-15 至 1999-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9808814&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Vaospressin; Oxytocin; Development; Partner

Microtine rodents are an ideal genus in which to study the role of the environment on the covariation of affiliative social relationships and patterns of paternal and maternal behaviors, and to determine what neurobiological variations are responsible for these behaviors. Extensive field and laboratory data are available on a number of closely related species with different social and parental patterns of behavior. Microtus ochrogaster (prairie voles) are primarily monogamous, with pair-bonding and biparental care. In contrast, Microtus montanus (montane voles) are promiscuous breeders and males rarely share the nest of the female or care for young in the field. Intermediate between these two extremes is Microtus pennsylvanicus (meadow voles), which have a non-monogamous mating system. During the summer breeding season, males are rarely found in the nests of females or seen caring for young. However, during the colder months of the year, males are found in the field nests with the female and pre- weanling young. Successful meadow vole colonies are rare and cost only slightly more than mice to maintain. In contrast, starting a new colony from wild caught individuals is difficult, costly and time consuming. Thus, maintaining a colony for access by other researchers and to maintain our ongoing research examining variation in reproductive behaviors across closely related species is valuable and cost-effective. During a year of support, while seeking additional sources of funding, the PI will continue to test the hypothesis that photoperiod and duration of cohabitation will influence the formation of partner preferences and paternal behavior in non-monogamous meadow voles, and behaviors may be equivalent to those of monogamous prairie voles under some conditions. Dr. Lee will determine the rate of development and the extent of partner preferences demonstrated by male and female meadow voles cohabiting under winter or summer photoperiods and paternal behavior of males. By manipulating the environment (photoperiod), the PI expects to alter the amount of affiliative and paternal behavior of meadow voles and the rate at which these behaviors develop. Because males in summer conditions are aggressive towards unfamiliar animals and not prepared to live in groups, while animals in winter conditions live in groups and are not aggressive, Dr. Lee hypothesizes that full paternal care will be evident in male meadow voles housed in SD without prior exposure to pups. Alternatively, she may find no influence of photoperiod on development of affiliative behaviors or paternal behavior, indicating that seasonal changes in sociality may not correlate with altered development of these behaviors.

小齿动物是研究环境对亲缘社会关系和父系和母系行为模式共同变异的作用，以及确定哪些神经生物学变异对这些行为负责的理想属。大量的野外和实验室数据可用于许多密切相关的物种，它们具有不同的社会和亲代行为模式。草原田鼠（Microtus ochrogaster）主要是一夫一妻制的，有配偶结合和双亲照顾。相比之下，山地田鼠（Microtus montanus）是滥交的繁殖者，雄性很少分享雌性的巢穴或在野外照顾幼崽。介于这两种极端之间的是宾夕法尼亚田鼠（Microtus pennsylvanicus），它们有一个非一夫一妻制的交配系统。在夏季的繁殖期，雄性很少出现在雌性的巢穴中，也很少看到它们照顾幼崽。然而，在一年中较冷的月份，雄性会与雌性和未断奶的幼崽一起在野外筑巢。成功的草地田鼠群落是罕见的，维持它们的成本只比老鼠高一点点。相比之下，从野外捕获的个体开始一个新的群体是困难的，昂贵的和耗时的。因此，维持一个群体供其他研究人员使用，并维持我们正在进行的研究，以检查近亲物种的生殖行为变化，是有价值和成本效益的。在一年的支持期间，在寻求额外资金来源的同时，PI将继续测试这样一个假设，即同居的光周期和持续时间将影响非一夫一妻制草原田鼠的伴侣偏好和父亲行为的形成，在某些条件下，行为可能与一夫一妻制草原田鼠的行为相同。李博士将确定雄性和雌性草甸田鼠在冬季或夏季光照期同居所表现出的发育速度和伴侣偏好程度，以及雄性的父亲行为。通过控制环境（光周期），PI希望改变草地田鼠亲和和父系行为的数量以及这些行为发展的速度。由于夏季条件下的雄性对不熟悉的动物具有攻击性，不准备群居，而冬季条件下的动物群居，不具有攻击性，Lee博士假设，在没有事先接触幼崽的情况下，饲养在SD中的雄性草地田鼠明显会得到充分的父权照顾。或者，她可能发现光周期对亲和行为或父系行为的发展没有影响，这表明社会性的季节性变化可能与这些行为的改变发展无关。