The Oxytocinergic Regulation of Social Behaviour and the Identification of Task Specialization in the Eusocial Naked Mole-rat
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The naked mole-rat exhibits one of the most remarkable reproductive skews among mammals. This species consists of a breeding queen and her male consorts in addition to their reproductively suppressed offspring and/or kin. The differences between reproductive and non-reproductive members of a colony play out in a number of neural and endocrine measures, including neurons involved in the production of the hormone oxytocin. In other rodents, oxytocin is involved in a number of social behaviours including social recognition, partner preference formation, parental care and alloparental pup care. However, the role of this peptide in the regulation of social behaviours in the naked mole-rat remains unknown. This avenue of research is particularly exciting due to the high level of sociality that the naked mole-rat exhibits. The current set of experiments were undertaken to try and understand where and how oxytocin might act to influence social behaviour in this species with a special emphasis on the non-reproductive subordinates. Chapter 1 explored whether breeders and subordinates differ in their distributions/densities of oxytocin receptors. Autoradiographical analysis was conducted with a radiolabelled oxytocin agonist. Chapter 2 looked at whether peripheral injections of oxytocin would change the behaviour of subordinates. Experiment 1 of this chapter looked at in-colony behaviour and experiment 2 looked at behaviour directed towards a single colony mate or a small group of newborn pups from the home colony. Chapter 3 is the development of a method to explore the central effects of oxytocin manipulation. Chapter 4 explored whether central oxytocin antagonism or agonism affects behaviour directed towards a colony mate, an unfamiliar mole-rat from another colony, or a small group of pups from the home colony. The non-reproductive subordinate caste of naked mole-rats shows incredibly variable rates of labour related tasks and defense against unfamiliar mole-rats from another colony. Chapter 5 looks at whether this variability represents stable individual differences and whether ecological demands of the colony are capable of altering a normally stable behavioural profile.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Skyler J. Mooney
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2564002522