SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON CENTRAL ARGININE VASOTOCIN ACTIONS

描述(申请者摘要)：心理生物学的长期目标 是为了了解内部生理过程和外部 环境因素相互作用影响神经功能和 个人行为。提高我们对这种相互作用的理解 对基础和应用人类行为生物学的强烈影响。这个 此应用程序的目标是检查和区分社会和 性腺激素对精氨酸功能的影响 加压素/加压素(AVT/AVP)系统。中环 要检验的假设是：1)AVT表达主要是 在动物模型系统中受社会环境的影响 行为性行为是由优势相互作用决定的，而不是 性腺，以及2)AVT刺激占优势的男性-典型的性和 攻击性攻击行为通过大脑的中枢活动 这种硬骨鱼。这项研究背后的理论基础是，虽然我们 了解性腺激素如何影响大脑和行为， 更少的人知道潜在的直接社会影响 大脑。AVT系统是问如何社会化的一个合乎逻辑的焦点 影响作用于大脑，因为这一蛋白质荷尔蒙家族 与所有主要的性行为表现密切相关 脊椎动物类群与重要哺乳动物的攻击行为 模特们。这项研究的主题是蓝头鲸(Thalassoma (双胞藻)经历完全的行为和性腺从雌性到雄性 成年动物的性别变化。变性伴随着四个- Avt-mR-NA在大脑中主要发挥作用的区域的水平成倍增加 控制性行为和攻击性行为。AVT/AVP系统是 在许多物种中受到性腺类固醇激素的强烈影响。 然而，重要的是，行为性行为的变化即使在 蓝头鱼没有性腺，而是完全 依赖于社会环境。因此，这一物种似乎 提供了一个独特的机会来直接考察社会影响 这个重要的神经系统。为了解决上面的中心假设， PI将追求三个具体目标：1)使用自然行为 社会和性腺影响的变异和实验解剖 为了检测AVT-mRNA表达的控制，2)确定AVT 可以诱导该物种的性行为和攻击性行为，以及3) 用AVT受体确定海豚脑内AVT的作用部位 神经激活的定位和细胞标志物。直接 社会环境对语言表达和行为的影响 AVT的行为将与人类相关，在那里性行为和 攻击性行为也受到环境的影响。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): A long range goal of psychobiology is to understand how internal physiological processes and external environmental factors interact to influence neural function and individual behavior. Improving our understanding of this interaction has strong implications for basic and applied human behavioral biology. The objective of this application is to examine and differentiate social and gonadal hormone influences on the function of the arginine vasotocin/vasopressin (AVT/AVP) system in the brain. The central hypotheses to be tested are: 1) that AVT expression is primarily influenced by the social environment in an animal model system where behavioral sex is determined by dominance interactions rather than the gonads, and 2) that AVT stimulates dominant male-typical sexual and offensive aggressive behavior through central actions in the brain of this teleost fish. The rationale behind this research is that while we know much about how gonadal hormones influence the brain and behavior, much less is known about potential direct social influences on the brain. The AVT system is a logical focus for asking how social influences act on the brain since this family of protein hormones has been strongly linked to the display of sexual behavior in all major groups of vertebrates and to aggression behavior in important mammalian models. The subject of this study, the bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) undergoes complete behavioral and gonadal female-to-male sex change as an adult animal. This sex change is accompanied by a four- fold increase in AVT-mRNA levels in the brain area which exerts primary control of sexual and aggressive behaviors. The AVT/AVP system is influenced strongly by gonadal steroid hormones in many species. Importantly, however, behavioral sex change can occur even in the absence of gonads in bluehead wrasses and is instead completely dependent on social environment. This species therefore appears to present a unique opportunity to directly examine social influences on this important neural system. To address the central hypotheses above, the PI will pursue three specific aims: 1) Use natural behavioral variation and experimental dissections of social and gonadal influences to examine the control of AVT-mRNA expression, 2) Determine whether AVT can induce sexual and aggressive behavior in this species and 3) Determine sites of AVT action in the wrasse brain by AVT receptor localization and cellular markers of neural activation. Direct influences of social environment on the expression and behavioral actions of AVT would have relevance to humans, where sexual and aggressive behaviors are also under environmental influences.