CAREER: The Social Environment and Developmental Plasticityin Vasopressin Neurochemical Pathways

行为在动物内外环境的相互作用中起着至关重要的作用。虽然在了解社会互动如何影响成人激素水平方面取得了重大进展，但我们对早期社会环境对行为的影响知之甚少，特别是影响攻击行为的因素。本项目拟研究在亲代行为显著变化下的行为可塑性，以及这种可塑性背后的生理机制。为了研究父系和母系效应的影响，她建议用Peromyscus小鼠进行研究，因为它是为数不多的雄性在抚养后代方面做出重大贡献的哺乳动物模型系统之一，也因为Peromyscus不同物种之间存在相当大的差异。PI将通过允许一个物种的后代由另一个物种的父母抚养来改变亲代照顾的水平。如果这导致了后代成年后攻击性和父母行为的变化，那么她将检查这些行为变化的生理基础。神经肽精氨酸抗利尿激素和类固醇激素睾酮将被研究，因为它们是影响成年人社会互动的重要生物化学物质，包括攻击性互动和亲代行为。这些研究将允许测试抗利尿激素在物种内部和物种之间的可塑性，以应对社会和激素环境的变化。贯穿PI研究的一个主题是几个不同科学领域的整合。这也是她在教学中使用的一种方法。PI使用动物行为向心理学学生介绍生物学的基本概念，并强调动物研究如何有助于我们理解影响人类行为的生理机制。项目总结3

PI: Marler, C. IBN-973309 Behavior plays a crucial role in interactions between an animal's internal and external environments. While significant progress has been made in understanding how social interactions can influence adult hormone levels, we know little about the impact of the early social environment on behavior, particularly factors influencing aggression. The PI proposes to investigate the plasticity in behavior in response to significant changes in parental behavior, as well as the physiological mechanisms underlying such plasticity. To examine the effects of both paternal and maternal effects she proposes to work with Peromyscus mice because it is one of the few mammalian model systems in which males make significant contributions to raising the young and also because there is considerable variation among the different species of Peromyscus. The PI will alter levels of parental care by allowing offspring of one species to be raised by the parents of the other species. If this causes changes in aggressive and parental behavior of the offspring once they have matured, then she will examine physiological underpinnings for these changes in behavior. The neuropeptide arginine vasopressin and the steroid hormone testosterone will be studied because these are important biochemicals influencing social interactions of adults, including aggressive interactions and parental behavior. These studies will allow testing of the plasticity of vasopressin both within and between species in response to changes in the social and hormonal environments. A theme that runs through the PI's research is the integration of several different scientific fields. This is an approach which she employs in her teaching as well. The PI uses animal behavior to introduce basic concepts of biology to psychology students and emphasize how animal studies contribute to our understanding of physiological mechanisms influencing human behavior. PROJECT SUMMARY 3