US-Germany Cooperative Research: Exchange of Viral Vector and Microdialysis Techniques for Studying Neuropeptide Function

0233145 Young该奖项支持埃默里大学的PI和博士后学生与德国里根斯堡大学动物学研究所的Inga Neumann合作。 德国和美国研究小组的共同努力将集中在他们对神经肽催产素和加压素在调节社会行为和压力应对中的作用的共同兴趣上。 美国国家科学基金会行为神经科学中心的研究小组主要研究催产素和后叶加压素在一夫一妻制啮齿动物草原田鼠的社会依恋中的作用。 研究表明，催产素和加压素在交配过程中在丘脑腹侧核和腹侧苍白球中释放，从而触发配对键的形成。 然而，没有直接的证据表明，在一夫一妻制的田鼠交配过程中肽的释放。 这个问题将在使用体内微透析和灵敏的放射免疫分析的合作中得到解决。 这个德国研究小组是世界上唯一一个成功测量了行为啮齿类动物体内催产素和加压素释放量的研究小组。 该项目将允许参与的博士后学生从在另一个国家进行研究中受益。 他们将培养对周围世界的高度赞赏，同时也学习重要的新技术技能。

0233145YoungThis award supports the PI and postdoctoral students from Emory University in a collaboration with Inga Neumann of the Institute for Zoology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. The combined efforts of the German and US groups will focus on their shared interest in the role of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in the regulation of social behavior and stress coping. The US group at the NSF Center for Behavioral Neuroscience focuses on the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in social attachment of the monogamous rodent species the prairie vole. Studies suggest that oxytocin and vasopressin are released in the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum during mating, which trigger the pair bond formation. There is, however, no direct evidence of peptide release during mating in the monogamous voles. This issue will be addressed in the collaboration using in vivo microdialysis and sensitive radioimmunoassay. The German group is the only one in the world to have successfully measured oxytocin and vasopressin release in behaving rodents.The project also has an educational objective. The project will allow the postdoctoral students involved to benefit from performing research in another country. They will develop a heightened appreciation of the world around them while also learning important new technical skills.