SGER: Vasotiinergic Mechanisms Associated with the Control of Social Behavior

精氨酸加压素(AVT)和精氨酸加压素(AVP)是两种密切相关的多肽荷尔蒙，它们在几种脊椎动物中被认为是社会行为的调节器，包括求偶、配对、育儿和攻击。这些分子在大脑中产生这些行为影响的机制尚不清楚，但它们的广泛分布表明它们在进化上是保守的。有人认为，AVT/AVP可能会影响物种--典型的社会释放刺激，如求偶呼唤、视觉显示或化学信号的处理。对这个问题采取比较的方法是重要的，以确定AVT/AVP是否可以选择性地影响行为和大脑对特定释放刺激的反应，这些刺激已经在不同的动物群体中进化用于社会交流。这个项目是探索性研究的一小笔赠款，直接使用金鱼来验证这一假说，因为对该物种的求偶和攻击性交流信号至关重要的确切化学刺激是唯一识别的，并且可以定量地提供。这个项目是探索性的，因为目前还不清楚AVT是否会影响金鱼的社会行为，尽管AVT对社会行为的影响已经在其他硬骨鱼中表现出来，而且一些AVT/AVP效应在其他脊椎动物中也是已知的。操纵大脑AVT水平的实验将测量雄性金鱼在对释放这些行为的特定化学感官社会刺激做出反应时，对求偶和攻击行为的影响。这是一个高影响/高风险的项目，因为结果尚不清楚，但成功的潜在影响是广泛的。如果成功，这些结果将导致对激素社会调节功能的进一步研究，将产生从行为神经内分泌学到脑神经化学、动物行为和进化神经科学的影响，并可能对其在水产养殖和渔业中的应用产生影响。

There are two closely related peptide hormones called arginine vasotocin (AVT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) that have been implicated in several vertebrates as modulators of social behavior, including courtship, pair-bonding, parenting, and aggression. The mechanisms by which these molecules act in the brain to produce these behavioral effects remain unclear, but their widespread distribution suggests they are evolutionarily conserved. It has been suggested that AVT/AVP may affect the processing of species-typical social releasing stimuli such as courtship calls, visual displays, or chemical signals. It is important to take a comparative approach to this question, to determine whether or not AVT/AVP can selectively influence behavioral and brain responses to the specific releasing stimuli that have evolved in different groups of animals for social communication. This project is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research to test this hypothesis directly using goldfish, because the exact chemical stimuli important for courtship and aggressive communication signals in this species are uniquely identified and can be delivered quantitatively. The project is exploratory because it is not yet clear whether AVT will influence social behavior in goldfish, although AVT effects on social behavior have been shown in other teleost fish, and some AVT/AVP effects are known for diverse other vertebrates. Experiments manipulating AVT levels in the brain will measure effects on courtship and aggressive behaviors in male goldfish during responses to particular chemosensory social stimuli that release those behaviors. This is a high-impact/high-risk project because the outcome is not clear, but the potential impact of success is wide-ranging. If successful, the results will lead to further studies on social regulatory functions of hormones, will have an impact beyond behavioral neuroendocrinology to brain neurochemistry, animal behavior, and evolutionary neuroscience, and could have an impact on applications in aquaculture and fisheries industries.