SGER: Vasotiinergic Mechanisms Associated with the Control of Social Behavior

有两种密切相关的肽激素，分别是精氨酸后叶催产素（AVT）和精氨酸后叶加压素（AVP），它们在一些脊椎动物中被认为是社会行为的调节剂，包括求偶、配对、养育和攻击。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。有研究表明，AVT/AVP可能影响物种典型的社会释放刺激的处理，如求偶叫声、视觉显示或化学信号。对这个问题采取比较的方法是很重要的，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出来，用于社会交流。这个项目是探索性研究的小额拨款，直接用金鱼来测试这个假设，因为在这个物种中，对求爱和攻击性交流信号很重要的确切化学刺激是唯一确定的，可以定量地传递。该项目是探索性的，因为目前尚不清楚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在其他硬骨鱼中得到证实，并且一些AVT/AVP效应已在其他多种脊椎动物中得到证实。操纵大脑中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觉社会刺激作出反应时对求爱和攻击行为的影响。这是一个高影响/高风险项目，因为结果不明确，但成功的潜在影响是广泛的。如果成功，这一结果将导致对激素社会调节功能的进一步研究，其影响将超越行为神经内分泌学，扩展到脑神经化学、动物行为和进化神经科学，并可能对水产养殖和渔业的应用产生影响。

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.