Neurobiology of Social Support

说明(由申请人提供)：社会参与、社会支持和社会纽带可以带来积极的健康益处，尽管这些影响的机制目前尚不清楚。在这里，我们建议使用社会一夫一妻制的草原田鼠(Microtus Ochrogaster)作为动物模型来研究社会诱导的行为和生理变化的机制。这项拟议的研究假设了一种新的机制，通过这种机制，即使是短暂的社会经历，可能部分是由神经肽系统介导的，也可以影响未来的行为和大脑功能。初步数据显示，与婴儿接触可以显著促进夫妻关系，可以释放脑部激素催产素(OT)，并抑制下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的“应激”荷尔蒙活动。在这里，我们建议研究伴随幼崽暴露的区域性神经内分泌变化，重点是神经系统，如杏仁核，与社会行为和恐惧相关，是OT的靶标，以及相关的神经激素，精氨酸加压素(AVP)。我们还将通过分析随后的社交行为，包括与陌生人的社交和结对纽带的形成，进一步调查幼崽暴露的后果。措施将包括行为和神经内分泌反应(通过脑微透析、CFOS和免疫细胞化学以及血液中OT、AVP和皮质酮的水平来衡量)。我们将研究幼崽的个体差异和特定性别的行为和神经内分泌反应模式，以检验这样的假设，即这些差异可能反映了这些激素的作用，特别是雌性的催产素和雄性的AVP。围绕一个简单的范例(对幼崽的反应)的多项测量可以分析行为和神经内分泌参数之间的关系，包括行为和生理参数，这些参数可能共享共同的神经底物。社交行为缺陷是包括自闭症、抑郁症和精神分裂症在内的几种形式的精神疾病的一个特征，可能与药物滥用的脆弱性有关。这项拟议的研究将有助于我们对哺乳动物社会行为的基本理解，特别是与育儿相关的过程。此外，这些研究可能有助于我们理解儿童忽视或虐待的神经内分泌机制，以及为什么这些机制在男性和女性中可能不同。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social engagement, social support and social bonds can have positive health benefits, although the mechanisms for these effects are at present not well understood. We propose here to use the socially-monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) as an animal model to examine mechanisms for socially-induced changes in behavior and physiology. The proposed study postulates a novel mechanism through which even a brief social experience, possibly mediated in part by neuropeptide systems, can impact future behavior and brain function. Preliminary data reveal that exposure to an infant can significantly facilitate pair bonding, can release the brain hormone oxytocin (OT) and inhibit the activity of "stress" hormones from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Here we propose to study regionally specific neuroendocrine changes that accompany pup exposure, focusing on neural systems, such as the amygdala, that are associated with social behavior and fear, and that are targets for OT, and a related neurohormone, arginine vasopressin (AVP). We also will further investigate the consequences of pup exposure through an analysis of subsequent social behaviors, including sociality to strangers and pair bond formation. Measures will include behavioral and neuroendocrine responses (measured by brain microdialysis, cFos and immunocytochemistry, and blood levels of OT, AVP and corticosterone). We will study both individual differences and gender-specific patterns of behavioral and neuroendocrine responding to pups to examine the hypothesis that these differences may reflect the actions of these hormones, including especially OT in females and AVP in males. Multiple measures focused around a simple paradigm (responses to a pup) allow an analysis of relationships among behavioral and neuroendocrine parameters, including behavior and physiology, which may share common neural substrates. Deficits in social behavior are a feature of several forms of mental illness, including autism, depression and schizophrenia, and may be associated with a vulnerability to substance abuse. The proposed study will contribute to our basic understanding of mammalian social behavior, and especially processes associated with parenting. In addition, these studies may help us understand neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying child neglect or abuse and why these may differ in males and females.