A study of the role of the central oxytocin system in animal-human bond: focus on domesticated Russian sivler foxes and rats.

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The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) facilitates intraspecific social contacts in mammals via various mechanisms, ranging from the suppression of neuroendocrine stress responses to the direct OT action on neurons of socially relevant brain regions. Recent reports indicated the possible contribution of OT in the formation of the social bond between domesticated mammals (dog, sheep, cattle) and humans. Indeed, social interaction between a domesticated animal and a human resulted in the elevation of peripheral OT levels (in blood, saliva or urine) and exogenous (intranasal) OT application led to more frequent contacts between an owner and a domesticated animal. However, the activity of the endogenous OT system and the effects of OT in early life (the day of birth) on the process of domestication have not been studied. To address these questions, we will primarily employ Russian silver foxes, which were domesticated by 60 years of selective breeding. Their progenitors were captured in 1885 in Canada for fur farming and for many decades were kept in similar cage conditions at the farm. In adult foxes, we will compare the peripheral OT levels, anatomy of the OT system and OT receptor binding (OT, V1a and V1b receptors) in the brains of wild, aggressive and domesticated foxes. Further, newborn foxes will receive i.p. OT injection followed by monitoring their social behavior in adulthood accompanied by analysis of plasma OT concentrations and anatomy of the OT system. Due to the limitation of the implication of invasive methods to foxes, the second subject of our study will be rats, which were selected for tame and aggressive behaviors towards humans. In these rats, we will use viral vectors to manipulate the activity of OT neurons by pharmacogenetic means and also will employ brain-region specific OT receptor overexpression to monitor their social behavior with conspecifics and humans. In our project, we expect to assess the role of OT signaling in the behavioral phenotypes of domesticated foxes and rats, which may underlie a mechanism of empathy between domesticated animals and humans that was established in the course of their co-evolution during the last 14.000-16.000 years.