Oxytocin neural responses distinguish social novelty from familiarity but not kin from non-kin in male spiny mice Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

In most species, individuals must be able to identify threats, peers, and potential mates to survive. The distinction of kin from non-kin and novel conspecifics from familiars is essential to the successful categorization of these identities. Although oxytocin (OXT) signaling has been implicated in social recognition, little is known about the contributions of distinct OXT-producing cell groups to distinguishing conspecific type. To determine whether OXT-producing neuronal populations differentially respond to novelty or kinship status, we conducted immediate early gene tests in male spiny mice (Acomys dimidiatus), a communally breeding species that we previously showed distinguishes between novelty and kinship status. Immunohistochemical analysis of brain tissue revealed that the OXT cell populations in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the anterior hypothalamus did not differentially respond to the kinship or novelty status of same-sex conspecifics. However, while OXT-producing neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis did not distinguish between novel kin and novel non-kin spiny mice, this cell group was more responsive to familiar than novel conspecifics. These results suggest that extrahypothalamic OXT neurons may be involved in aspects of processing the novelty status of a conspecific.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Materials and Methods

Animals

Immediate Early Gene Studies

Histology and Immunohistochemistry

Neural Quantification

Statistical Analysis

Results

OXT neuronal population responses to kinship status

OXT neuronal population responses to novelty status

Brain-Behavior Relationships

Discussion

BNST OXT neuronal contributions to social behavior

Hypothalamic OXT neuronal contributions to social discrimination

References

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Tables

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Behavioral
Palabra Clave	Spiny Mice Social behavior Oxytocin
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Aubrey Kelly, Emory University
Committee Members	Joseph Manns, Emory University James Rilling, Emory University

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