Mechanistic substrates of a life history transition in male prairie voles: Developmental plasticity in affiliation and aggression corresponds to nonapeptide neuronal function

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Aubrey M. Kelly, Emory University; Alexander G. Saunders, Cornell University; Alexander G. Ophir, Cornell University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-02-03
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.01.006
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Hormones and Behavior
• Volume: 99
• Start Page: 14
• End Page: 24
• Grant/Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health
• Grant/Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the support from the National Institutes of Health (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development HD081959 to AMK and HD079573 to AGO).
• Keywords: oxytocin; development; vasopressin; aggression; prairie vole; affiliation
• Research Categories: Social psychology; Neurosciences

Abstract

Although prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) social behavior is well-characterized in adults, surprisingly little is known about the development of social behavior in voles. Further, the overwhelming majority of studies in prairie voles examine social behavior in a reproductive context. Here, we examine developmental plasticity in affiliation and aggression and their underlying neural correlates. Using sexually naïve males, we characterized interactions with an age-matched, novel, same-sex conspecific in four different age groups that span pre-weaning to adulthood. We found that prosocial behavior decreased and aggression increased as males matured. Additionally, pre-weaning males were more prosocial than nonsocial, whereas post-weaning males were more nonsocial than prosocial. We also examined nonapeptide neural activity in response to a novel conspecific in brain regions important for promoting sociality and aggression using the immediate early gene cFos. Assessment of developmental changes in neural activity showed that vasopressin neurons in the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis exhibit functional plasticity, providing a potential functional mechanism that contributes to this change in sociality as prairie voles mature. This behavioral shift corresponds to the transition from a period of allopatric cohabitation with siblings to a period of time when voles disperse and presumably attempt to establish and defend territories. Taken together our data provide a putative mechanism by which brain and behavior prepare for the opportunity to pairbond (characterized by selective affiliation with a partner and aggression toward unfamiliar conspecifics) by undergoing changes away from general affiliation and toward selective aggression, accounting for this important life history event.