Neuropeptidergic regulation of sociosexual behavior in rodents

啮齿动物的社会行为是由下丘脑通过化学感觉器官的感觉信号来调节的。在下丘脑中，一种名为催产素的神经肽已被证明可以调节社会行为。在这项研究中，我们研究了缺乏催产素基因的小鼠（OTKO小鼠）的社会性行为。同种气味的选择性选择测试表明，OTKO小鼠对异性气味缺乏偏好。此外，OTKO使雄性小鼠对性naïve雌性小鼠的接受程度下降，而OTKO对雄性小鼠的性行为没有影响。我们还测试了雌性大鼠对幼鼠气味的嗅觉偏好。实验表明，初产雌鼠对幼仔的反应较低是由于催产素神经元的反应较低。给药后叶催产素改变幼犬的嗅觉偏好。

The social behavior in rodents is regulated by the hypothalamus through sensory signals from chemosensory organs. In the hypothalamus, a neuropeptide, oxytocin, has been shown to mediate the regulation of social behavior. In this study, we examine sociosexual behavior in mice deficient for oxytocin gene (OTKO mice). Alternative choice test for conspecific odors revealed that OTKO mice showed a lack of preference for opposite-sex odor. In addition, OTKO deteriorated accept of male mouse in sexually naïve females, while OTKO did not affect male sexual behavior. We also tested for olfactory preference in female rats for pup odors. The experiment demonstrated that lower responsiveness to pup in virgin females than that of multiparous females was due to lower responsiveness of oxytocin neurons. Administration of oxytocin modified olfactory preference for pup in virgin females.