Neurobiology of Social Behavior

社会行为神经生物学

• 批准号: 6369858
• 负责人: H. Elliott Albers
• 金额: $ 27.91万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-07-01 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6369858
• 关键词: aggression; arginine vasopressin; autoradiography; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; ethology; experience; hamsters; hormone receptor; hormone regulation /control mechanism; hypothalamus; in situ hybridization; neurobiology; photostimulus; preoptic areas; radioimmunoassay; receptor binding; receptor expression; receptor sensitivity; site directed mutagenesis; social adjustment; social behavior; statistics /biometry; testosterone; tissue /cell culture

This project will investigate the neural and endocrine mechanisms that control social behavior in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). There is a substantial body of evidence that the actions of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) within a zone that extends from the medial preoptic area to the anterior hypothalamus (referred to as the MPOA-AH) plays a critical role in the expression of a form of scent marking called flank marking as well as aggression. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms controlling social behaviors like flank marking and aggression requires definition of the neural/hormonal mechanisms that control these behaviors as well as how experience changes these mechanisms so that these behaviors are continuously adjusted to the changing environment. The proposed experiments will test the working hypothesis that experience alters the expression of flank marking and aggression by its effects on AVP receptors within the MPOA-AH. This hypothesis will be tested by examining the effects of two types of experience that have significant, yet very different effects on scent marking and aggression. First, we will determine whether social experience (i.e. prior agonistic encounters) alters these receptors and will test the prediction that a testosterone-dependent as well as a testosterone-independent mechanism mediates these effects. Second, we will determine whether environmental experience (i.e. exposure to winter-like short photoperiods) alters these receptors and will test the prediction that a testosterone-independent mechanism mediates these effects. We believe that analysis of the effects of such different types of experience on these AVP receptors will provide a rigorous initial test of our hypothesis that these receptors represent a critical regulatory site in the control of scent marking and aggression. These data should provide new insights into the basic principles that govern how neural and endocrine mechanisms control complex social behaviors. This information is critically important for understanding the etiology of a variety of behavioral and emotional disorders as well as the development of new treatments for these disorders.

该项目将研究控制叙利亚仓鼠（Mesocricetus auratus）社会行为的神经和内分泌机制。有大量证据表明精氨酸加压素 (AVP) 在从内侧视前区延伸到下丘脑前部（称为 MPOA-AH）的区域内的作用在某种形式的表达中发挥着关键作用气味标记（称为侧翼标记）以及攻击性标记。了解控制侧翼标记和攻击等社会行为的神经生物学机制需要定义控制这些行为的神经/激素机制，以及经验如何改变这些机制，以便这些行为不断适应不断变化的环境。拟议的实验将检验以下工作假设：经验通过影响 MPOA-AH 内的 AVP 受体来改变侧翼标记和攻击性的表达。这一假设将通过检查两种类型的体验的影响来检验，这两种体验对气味标记和攻击性有显着但又截然不同的影响。首先，我们将确定社会经历（即之前的竞争性遭遇）是否会改变这些受体，并将测试睾酮依赖性和睾酮独立机制介导这些影响的预测。其次，我们将确定环境经历（即暴露于类似冬季的短光周期）是否会改变这些受体，并将测试独立于睾酮的机制介导这些影响的预测。我们相信，分析不同类型的经历对这些 AVP 受体的影响将为我们的假设提供严格的初步检验，即这些受体代表了控制气味标记和攻击性的关键调节位点。这些数据应该为神经和内分泌机制如何控制复杂社会行为的基本原理提供新的见解。这些信息对于了解各种行为和情绪障碍的病因以及开发这些疾病的新疗法至关重要。