Epigenetics of social bonding in prairie voles

项目摘要 社会依恋是健康人类行为的重要组成部分， 形成这种依恋被认为是精神障碍的症状， 反社会障碍精神分裂症和自闭症研究机制 潜在的社会依恋需要一个动物模型， 类似于人类的社会依恋。草原田鼠（Microtus ochrogaster） 已经成为社会神经生物学研究的重要模型， 附件.在野外，雄性和雌性草原田鼠形成长期， 一夫一妻制，在整个繁殖季节共用一个巢。这样的 繁殖对通常会一直呆在一起，直到其中一只动物死亡。考虑到交配 在草原田鼠中诱导神经适应，最终导致结合，我们 在这里，我建议调查交配诱导的社会联系是否具有 潜在的表观遗传基础我们的初步数据支持这一假设。

PROJECT ABSTRACT Social attachments are a vital part of healthy human behavior and an inability to form such attachments is regarded as a symptom of mental disorders such as anti-social disorders, schizophrenia and autism. Studying the mechanisms underlying social attachment requires an animal model that displays behaviors similar to that of human social attachment. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) have become an important model for the study of the neurobiology of social attachment. In the field, male and female prairie voles form long-term, monogamous bonds and share a nest throughout the breeding season. Such a breeding pair typically remains together until one animal dies. Given that mating in prairie voles induces neuroadaptations that eventually lead to bonding, we propose here to investigate whether mating induced social bonding has an underlying epigenetic basis. Our preliminary data support this hypothesis.