Eulemur as a Primate Model for Oxytocin System Evolution and Function

Eulemur 作为催产素系统进化和功能的灵长类动物模型

• 批准号: 1808803
• 负责人: Nicholas Grebe
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Grebe Nicholas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2021-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1808803&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Eulemur; Primate; Model; Oxytocin; System

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Christine Drea at Duke University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of oxytocin (OT) in primate behavior. This project uses an animal model, a genus of Malagasy lemurs housed at the Duke Lemur Center. Species within this genus (Eulemur) vary considerably in their social systems, including the degree of female dominance and existence of monogamous mating bonds. Thus, Eulemur is a natural experiment that permits an investigation of how OT is involved in the complex nature of pair bonds. Insights from this project will inform the literature across several scientific fields, including zoology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience. More broadly, findings from this project have the potential to inform efforts to harness OT for therapeutic purposes.Functional significance of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has become a topic of debate within social endocrinology. Evolutionary biologists have argued that ancestral functions for OT were co-opted in some species to mediate formation and maintenance of other social bonds. A large literature supports and espouses OT's potential as a biological foundation for the interdependent relationships, including monogamous pair-bonds, characteristic of highly social species. Psychological studies report a number of both prosocial and anti-social effects or correlates of OT. Functional interpretations are often derived from model systems of a single species. Evolutionary biologists argue that model systems do not sufficiently represent the diversity of mammalian socio-ecologies. This project expands the current state of knowledge in behavioral OT research by collecting behavioral, hormonal, and anatomical data on the OT system in a unique animal model - Eulemur, a genus of group-living primates. The combination of close genetic relatedness and divergent social behavior within the Eulemur genus acts as a natural experiment. Seminal studies revealed that inter-species differences in structure and function of the OT system are essential to understanding the biological bases of mating system variation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项是作为NSF社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金(SPRF)计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在杜克大学克里斯汀·德里亚博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖支持一位研究催产素(OT)在灵长类动物行为中的作用的早期职业科学家。这个项目使用了一个动物模型，一个安置在杜克狐猴中心的马达加斯加狐猴属。该属内的物种在其社会制度中有相当大的差异，包括雌性支配的程度和一夫一妻制的交配关系的存在。因此，Eulemur是一个自然的实验，它允许研究OT是如何参与对键的复杂性质的。这个项目的洞察力将为几个科学领域的文献提供信息，包括动物学、进化生物学和神经科学。更广泛地说，这个项目的发现有可能为利用催产素用于治疗目的的努力提供信息。神经肽催产素(OT)的功能意义已成为社会内分泌学中的一个争论话题。进化生物学家认为，OT的祖先功能在一些物种中被增选，以调节其他社会关系的形成和维持。大量文献支持和支持OT作为相互依赖关系的生物学基础的潜力，包括高度社会化物种的特征的一夫一妻制的配对纽带。心理学研究报告了许多催产素的亲社会和反社会影响或相关因素。功能解释通常是从单一物种的模型系统中得出的。进化生物学家认为，模型系统不能充分代表哺乳动物社会生态的多样性。这个项目通过收集一种独特的动物模型-Eulemur的行为、激素和解剖学数据来扩展行为OT研究的当前状态。Eulemur是一种群居的灵长类动物。Eulemur属内的密切遗传亲缘关系和不同的社会行为结合起来，就像一个自然的实验。开创性的研究表明，物种间在OT系统结构和功能上的差异对于理解交配系统变化的生物学基础是必不可少的。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Organizational and activational androgens, lemur social play, and the ontogeny of female dominance

组织和激活雄激素、狐猴社交游戏和雌性优势的个体发育

• DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.07.002
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Hormones and Behavior
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Grebe, Nicholas M.;Fitzpatrick, Courtney;Sharrock, Katherine;Starling, Anne;Drea, Christine M.
• 通讯作者: Drea, Christine M.