BIOL 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Montane Vole, Meadow Vole, Prairie Vole
14 May 2018
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high vasopressin in montane vole and low in prairie—
so there's species differences —
so VP seems like a logical place to look
→
so infused vasopressin directly in VP, thus blocking receptors
when prairie voles are mating. and this blocks mating-induced partner preference!
—
review: looked at effect of nonapeptides on mating behaviour and formation of pair bonds, e.g. vasopressin
but not oxytocin
•
so used viral vector to increase V1aR expression in species that does not normally form pair bonds—
result: the meadow vole behaves like the prairie vole! mating leads to partner preference! basically—
you've turned this polygynous species into a monogamous one!
—
so what happens when you make
meadow vole
brain look like
prairie vole
brain in the ventral pallidum•
Evolution of mating systems
infusing oxytocin antagonist: blocks formation of partner preference. but vasopressin antagonist
does
not
affect formation of mating-induced partner preference
—
Insel & Hulihan (1995)
•
control: a bit of partner preference, but not much
but then if you infused oxytocin
agonist
, it leads to a significant increasing partner preference,
without mating! it's essentially tricking the brain into thinking that it's mated
then, cohabitate female with male but without allowing mating ot occur.—
24. Social Behaviour Network IV
April 16, 2018 11:36
BIOL 320 Page 1
vasopressin agonist doesn't produce a big change
high expression of OT receptors in NAcc of monogamous species—
looking at a species differences in expression of oxytocin•
blocking OT receptors only in NAcc during mating prevents formation of pair bonds in female prairie voles! in
fact, even prefer the stranger over the partner
•
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they're normally polygynous. and even after increase OT receptors, they're still polygynous—
Ross et al. (2009)
: in females, increasing OT receptors in NAcc of montane voles, you
don't
get change in
partner preference
•
so blocking OT = blocks pair-bonding. but overexpressing
≠
convert. so it's necessary, but not sufficient!•
so this suggests that OT is important for pair-bond formation in female prairie voles, esp. in NAcc. and
vasopressin in VP in males seems important.
•
but if you compare pattern of differences in oxytocin and vasopressin system across species, there's similar
patterns! so could you make predictions about other voles? or other animals, e.g. zebra finches! there's lots of
monogamous species—so you can ask the same questions about oxytocin and vasopressin and to what
degree there are shared roles in these nonapeptides
•
control: most birds form pair bonds after mating
antagonist: dose-dependent increase in
failure
to form pair-bond
looked at how many animals failed to form a pair bond—
Pedersen & Tomaszycki (2012)
: antagonising oxytocin •
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