Elucidating the Cellular Basis of Dopamine and Oxytocin Interactions and Receptor Distribution Underlying Pair Bonding in Prairie Voles
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Pair bonds and social attachment are integral to who we are as humans.Strong, healthy attachments hold protective effects for health, but in their absence deleterious impacts arise.To support health and attenuate negative impacts, further understanding of the neuromolecular basis of pair bonding is essential.The monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) forms lasting pair bonds, and therefore, serve as an excellent animal model in studying pair bonds and attachment.Previous studies have established the necessity and sufficiency of oxytocin and dopamine interactions, within the nucleus accumbens, for pair bond formation.To build off this foundation, this study aims to identify specific cellular distribution and co-expression of oxytocin and dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens and how they change as function of pair bonding independent of cohabitation and sexual experience.To address the latter, a sympatric species that does not form pair bonds, the promiscuous meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), was utilized as a comparative component to dissociate receptor differences due to sociosexual experience compared to pair bonding.Cohorts of naïve and paired/sexually experienced voles for each species were established and receptor transcript expression was visualized using RNAscope in situ hybridization.Data were analyzed to measure no transcript, exclusively single, and co-expressing cells.This allowed identification if changes in receptors were occurring in separate cells, or in an autonomous fashion, versus co-expression of different receptors within a single cell in a non-autonomous fashion.Data showed a significant increase in co-expression of oxytocin and dopamine transcripts as a function of pair bonding, although data do not clearly support a cell-autonomous signaling mechanism and further research is warranted.* = p ≤ 0.050, ** = p ≤ 0.01, *** = p ≤ 0.001, **** == p ≤ 0.0001
Author: Schmidt, Julia
Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7037602980