Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social and ecological influences on brain anatomy

博士论文研究：社会和生态对大脑解剖学的影响

• 批准号: 2235348
• 负责人: Christine Drea
• 金额: $ 3.22万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-15 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2235348&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Social; ecological

Some of the most defining features of primates, including humans, are their large brains and complex social systems. Comparing brain structure – or neuroanatomy – across primate species that live in a wide variety of social organizations can suggest how the brain and sociality are related. Previous studies of primate brain evolution have not included the full extent of social diversity in primates, limiting the conclusions that can be drawn from them. This Doctoral Dissertation Research project combines existing data on neuroanatomy and hormone receptor distributions in the brain from well-studied mammal species and generates new data from species not previously included in prior studies, to better understand how these traits relate to sociality. Beyond sharing data with the scientific community and providing educational opportunities for K-12 students, generating the results from this study allows for advanced training of undergraduates.Hormones, such as testosterone, estradiol, oxytocin, and vasopressin act in the brain, and must bind their receptors to exert any effects on behavior. In rodents and some primates, the distributions of these hormone receptors in the brain are linked to differences in social behavior; however, previous work from a sample of lemur species shows that the patterns may not be the same across all mammalian species. This project expands prior work through three main objectives: 1) to characterize neuroanatomy in thirteen lemur species and broadly compare it to that of better-studied mammalian species, including rodents and other primates, 2) to investigate sex differences in lemur neuroanatomy in relation to androgen and estrogen receptor expression and variation in female aggression, and 3) to explore the relationship between oxytocin and vasopressin receptor distribution and social bonding. Understanding the neuroanatomical and neuroendocrine correlates of sociality in these unique primate species can advance our knowledge of primate brain evolution, and the interplay between the brain and social behavior more broadly.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.

包括人类在内的灵长类动物最显著的特征是它们的大大脑和复杂的社会系统。比较生活在各种各样的社会组织中的灵长类动物的大脑结构或神经解剖学，可以表明大脑和社会性是如何联系在一起的。先前对灵长类动物大脑进化的研究没有包括灵长类动物社会多样性的全部范围，限制了可以从中得出的结论。这个博士论文研究项目结合了神经解剖学和大脑中激素受体分布的现有数据，这些数据来自经过充分研究的哺乳动物物种，并产生了以前未包括在先前研究中的物种的新数据，以更好地理解这些特征与社会性的关系。除了与科学界共享数据并为K-12学生提供教育机会之外，从这项研究中产生的结果还允许对本科生进行高级培训。激素，如睾酮、雌二醇、催产素和抗利尿激素在大脑中起作用，必须结合它们的受体才能对行为产生任何影响。在啮齿类动物和一些灵长类动物中，这些激素受体在大脑中的分布与社会行为的差异有关；然而，先前对狐猴物种样本的研究表明，在所有哺乳动物物种中，这种模式可能并不相同。本项目通过三个主要目标扩展了之前的工作：1)表征13种狐猴物种的神经解剖学特征，并将其与包括啮齿动物和其他灵长类动物在内的研究更深入的哺乳动物物种的神经解剖学特征进行广泛比较；2)研究狐猴神经解剖学中雄激素和雌激素受体表达和雌性攻击变异的性别差异；3)探索催产素和加压素受体分布与社会结合之间的关系。了解这些独特灵长类动物的神经解剖学和神经内分泌与社会性的关系，可以促进我们对灵长类动物大脑进化的认识，以及大脑与社会行为之间更广泛的相互作用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。