A Quantitative Approach to Understand the Influence of Oxytocin Receptor Gene Variation on Social Interaction in Prairie Voles Open Access

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene variation and social behaviors in prairie voles, focusing on social preference, avoidance, affiliative behaviors, and social vigilance. Oxytocin (OXT) is an important neuropeptide that modulates complex social behaviors including social recognition, pair bonding, and maternal behaviors. Prairie voles serve as a significant animal model for researching monogamous behavior and social interactions because they develop lifelong pair bonds and display natural variation in nucleus accumbens (NAc) oxytocin receptor (OXTR) expression level, predicted by the intronic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at NT213739. Utilizing tracking and machine learning techniques, we quantitatively analyzed social interactions in a naturalistic open-field setting, examining the role of genetic variability in NAc OXTR expression on social behaviors. Our findings revealed no direct modulation effect of NT213739 on the measured social behaviors, including approach, flee, and huddling activities. However, the study uncovered a significant interaction between genotype, time, and spatial/orientational factors in predicting approach behaviors, suggesting a nuanced, context-dependent role of the oxtr gene in modulating social behavior. Additionally, social vigilance in the initial contact with a novel conspecific was found to be influenced by the oxtr gene variation, supporting the social salience hypothesis that OXT regulates the significance of social cues. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying social behavior, emphasizing the importance of context and the complex role of OXTR.

Table of Contents

1) Introduction

4) Materials and Methods

8) Results

Absence of Direct Influence of NT213739 on Social Preference and Avoidance Behaviors Toward Strangers

Absence of Direct Influence of NT213739 on Affiliative Behaviors Toward Strangers

NT213739 Modulates Context-Dependent Social Approach Behaviors Towards Strangers

NT213739 Influences Early-Stage Social Vigilance

16) Discussion

19) Tables and Figures

Figure 1. Errors in animal tracking

Figure 2. Feature extraction example and model training

Figure 3. Pipeline for bout-wise transformation

Figure 4. No direct effect of NT213739 on approach behavior

Figure 5. No direct effect of NT213739 on fleeing behavior

Figure 6. No direct effect of NT213739 on huddling behavior

Figure 7. NT213739 modulates social approach depending on the context

Figure 8. NT213739 influenced separation distance and relative heading orientation in the earlier cohabitation

Figure 9. NT213739 regulates social vigilance in the earlier cohabitation

28) References

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Quantitative Science
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, Neuroscience
Keyword	Social interaction Prarie vole Oxytocin receptor gene
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Liu, Robert, Emory University Berman, Gordon, Emory University
Committee Members	Arbilly, Michal, Emory University

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