Social control of behavioural and neural plasticity

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Social status is a key regulator of reproductive behaviour in mammals. My research investigates the relationship between social interactions and those neural circuits and behaviours that differ between males and females. To do this, I study how social status influences brain areas involved in reproduction in the naked mole-rat. These animals live in large social colonies where reproduction is limited to a single female and 1-3 males; these breeders are socially dominant over all other animals, called subordinates. By comparing the brains of male and female subordinates and breeders, I have demonstrated that, in contrast to most other mammalian species, social status is more important than sex for determining morphology and protein expression in the brains of these uniquely social animals. Importantly, any subordinate can become a breeder if removed from their colony and paired with an opposite sex mate. Because I randomly select animals to remain subordinate or become breeders, my work demonstrates that differences between dominant and subordinate animals are the result of the change in social status and not due to pre-existing neural differences that predispose animals to a particular status. The proposed research will extend on these findings to determine which features of a change in social status are causing the associated neuroplasticity (e.g., removal from a stressful environment vs. the positive cues associated with a new mate). Furthermore, we will begin to demonstrate the functional significance of brain changes associated with social status by manipulating particular hormones and peptides to see if we can cause a subordinate brain to function like a breeder brain and vice versa. Ultimately, my work reveals how social factors affect development and plasticity in the mammalian brain and, in turn, how specialized neural circuits control the expression of social behaviours.