Neurobiology of Social Attraction and Preference

社会吸引力和偏好的神经生物学

• 批准号: 6857034
• 负责人: ARAS T PETRULIS
• 金额: $ 22.92万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6857034
• 关键词: amygdala; animal communication behavior; behavioral /social science research tag; brain mapping; cell cell interaction; cell population study; chemoattractants; chemotaxis; electrophysiology; hamsters; hormone regulation /control mechanism; male; neural information processing; neurobiology; neuroendocrine system; neurons; neuropsychological tests; neuropsychology; neuroregulation; odors; preference; sex behavior; social behavior; steroid hormone; thalamus

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sexual disorders, such as erectile dysfunction and female sexual arousal disorder, are common in human populations and are strongly associated with increased anxiety and depression. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding and treating peripheral and organic causes of these disorders, much less is known about pathological changes in sexual arousal or "libido." To generate attraction and preference for mates, human and non-human animals must integrate signals about their reproductive state (gonadal steroid hormones) with perception of social cues (often odors or pheromones). This proposal will identify and characterize the neural substrates underlying steroidal and chemosensory interaction on attraction and preference for female odors in male golden hamsters, a model organism whose sexual behavior is critically dependent on both social odors and hormones. The experiments will test the hypothesis that steroid-sensitive elements of the medial amygdala (MA) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) mediate the modulatory and permissive effects of gonadal steroids on attraction and preference, whereas chemosensory regions of MA and BNST mediate the evaluative processes underlying preference for female odors. Using behavioral techniques, excitotoxic lesions and electrophysiological recordings in awake, behaving animals, this hypothesis will be tested by determining whether (a) lesioning steroid-sensitive or chemosensory MA and BNST regions impairs sexual attraction and preference, (b) the firing responses of individual neurons and populations of neurons within chemosensory and steroid-sensitive regions of MA and BNST differ in their response specificity to female odors and (c) disconnecting these chemosensory and steroid-sensitive region impairs preference and attraction and changes neural activity within these structures. This data will provide novel insights into how sexual attraction and preference is generated by the nervous system and how sensory and internal state cues interact to regulate motivated behavior.

描述（由申请人提供）：性障碍，例如勃起功能障碍和女性性唤醒疾病，在人类人群中很常见，并且与焦虑和抑郁症的增加密切相关。尽管在理解和治疗这些疾病的外围和有机原因方面取得了重大进展，但对性唤醒或“性欲”的病理变化知之甚少。为了产生对伴侣的吸引力和偏爱，人类和非人类动物必须将有关其生殖状态（性腺类固醇激素）的信号与人们对社会提示（通常是气味或信息素）的感知相结合。该提案将确定并表征与雄性金仓鼠（Golden Hamsters）中雌性气味的吸引力和偏好的基础神经底物，这是一种模型的生物体，其性行为在社会气味和激素上都严重依赖于社会气味和荷尔蒙。该实验将检验以下假设：在层状（BNST）中内侧杏仁核（MA）和床核的类固醇敏感元素介导了性腺类固醇对吸引和偏好的调节作用，而MA和BNST中介的化学区域的调节和允许作用对女性气味的偏好偏爱的评估过程。使用行为技术，兴奋性病变和在清醒中的电生理记录，行为动物，通过确定（a）病变类固醇敏感的MA或化学感应MA和BNST是否会损害性吸引力和偏好，来检验该假设MA和BNST的化学水压和类固醇敏感区域内神经元的神经元和种群在对女性气味的反应特异性方面有所不同，以及（c）断开这些化学感应和类固醇敏感区域的连接，从而损害了这些结构中的偏好和吸引力，并改变了这些结构中的神经活性。这些数据将提供有关神经系统如何产生性吸引和偏好以及感觉和内部状态线索如何相互作用以调节动机行为的新颖见解。