Formation of Infant/Father Social Relationship

描述（由申请人提供）：婴儿对母亲、父亲、兄弟姐妹和陌生人做出适当反应的能力是衡量其社会能力的一个指标。社会行为的损害预示着未来的精神病理学，也可能增加虐待的可能性。众所周知，婴儿行为可能是虐待的一个风险因素，了解婴儿社会行为的调节和早期社会关系的形成对于制定成功的干预措施至关重要，这些干预措施可以改善情绪和身体健康。研究早期社会联系形成和调节的动物模型将是这项工作的重要资产。该实验室已经开发出一种幼鼠模型，可以应用于与父系或另一成年男性形成社会关系，这些男性是人类虐待儿童的高比例肇事者。拟议的实验测试是否创建婴儿气味偏好的基础上的学习过程是一个积极的社会纽带与父系形成的关键组成部分。实验还将确定敏感期;个体识别是否是改变社会行为的一个组成部分;以及遗传关系和/或产前经历在这个过程中的作用。最近的社会互动和个体发育史可以大大改变强度的分离反应的大鼠幼崽，隔离诱导的超声波发声（USV）。短暂接触的一个孤立的小狗与它的大坝既导致USV率在她的存在，“接触安静”的减少，也大大增加了小狗的后续隔离诱导的发声率，“母性增强”。在母鼠饲养的幼鼠中，与他们不熟悉的父亲接触会产生“行为抑制”，一种恐惧般的不动和对USV的抑制。在被饲养的母亲和父亲，孤立的小狗将安静在团聚期间与他们熟悉的父亲，但也鼻子的皮毛和洞穴下的身体。移除父系现在会增加召唤。总之，这些行为表明一种深刻改变的社会关系的形成。双亲养育-USV测试范式是一种独特而新颖的模型，广泛应用于研究调节早期社会关系形成的神经行为过程及其对晚年生活的影响。使用大鼠的研究将阐明人类更复杂的社会互动和依恋的基本构建模块。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability of infants to respond appropriately to mother, father, siblings and strangers is a measure of their social competence. Impairments of social behavior predict future psychopathology and can also increase the likelihood of abuse. As it is known that infant behavior can be a risk factor for abuse, understanding the regulation of infant social behavior and the formation of early-life social bonds is vital in the creation of successful interventions that can lead to improved emotional and physical health. An animal model of the formation and regulation of early-life social bonds would be an important asset in this work. This laboratory has developed a model with infant rats that can be applied to the formation of a social relationship to the sire or another adult male, perpetrators of a high proportion of child abuse in humans. The proposed experiments test whether the learning processes underlying the creation of infantile odor preferences are a critical component of the formation of a positive social bond with the sire. The experiments will also identify sensitive periods; whether individual recognition is an integral part of the altered social behavior; and the role of genetic relationship and/or prenatal experience in the process. Both recent social interactions and ontogenetic history can greatly alter the intensity of the separation response of rat pups, as measured by isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations (USV). Brief contact of an isolated pup with its dam causes both a reduction of USV rate in her presence, 'contact quieting', and also dramatically increases the pup's subsequent isolation-induced vocalization rate, 'maternal potentiation'. In dam-reared pups, contact with their unfamiliar sire produces 'behavioral inhibition', a fear-like immobility and suppression of USV. After being reared both dam and sire, isolated pups will quiet during reunion with their familiar sire, but also nose its fur and burrow under its body. The sire's removal now induces increased calling. Together, these behaviors indicate the formation of a profoundly altered social relationship. The biparental rearing-USV testing paradigm is a unique and novel model with wide applications for investigation of the neurobehavioral processes regulating formation of early-life social relationships and their later-life consequences. Studies using rats will elucidate the basic building blocks from which the more complex social interactions and attachments of humans are shaped.