Neurobiology of Social Support

描述（由申请人提供）：社会参与、社会支持和社会纽带可以对健康产生积极的影响，尽管这些影响的机制目前还不清楚。我们建议使用社会一夫一妻制草原田鼠（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，可能部分由神经肽系统介导，也会影响未来的行为和大脑功能。初步数据显示，接触婴儿可以显著促进配对，可以释放大脑激素催产素（OT），并抑制下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的“压力”激素的活动。在这里，我们建议研究伴随幼犬暴露的区域特异性神经内分泌变化，重点关注与社交行为和恐惧相关的神经系统，如杏仁核，这是OT和相关神经激素精氨酸抗利尿激素（AVP）的目标。我们还将进一步调查幼犬暴露的后果，通过分析随后的社会行为，包括对陌生人的社交和配对形成。测量将包括行为和神经内分泌反应（通过脑微透析、cfo和免疫细胞化学测量，以及OT、AVP和皮质酮的血液水平）。我们将研究个体差异和对幼崽的行为和神经内分泌的性别特异性模式，以检验这些差异可能反映这些激素作用的假设，特别是雌性的OT和雄性的AVP。围绕一个简单范例（对幼犬的反应）的多种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，它们可能共享共同的神经基质。社会行为缺陷是包括自闭症、抑郁症和精神分裂症在内的几种精神疾病的特征，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，特别是与养育子女有关的过程。此外，这些研究可能有助于我们了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有所不同。

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.