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Social approach and social vigilance are differentially regulated by oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbens
- Source :
- Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, vol 45, iss 9, Neuropsychopharmacology
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- eScholarship, University of California, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Oxytocin is currently being considered as a novel therapeutic for anxiety disorders due to its ability to promote affiliative behaviors. In the nucleus accumbens (NAc) activation of oxytocin receptors (OTR) promotes social approach (time spent near an unfamiliar individual). Here, we show that stressful social experiences reduce the expression of NAc OTR mRNA, coinciding with decreases in social approach. Social stressors also increase social vigilance, characterized as orienting to an unfamiliar individual without approaching. Vigilance is a key component of behavioral inhibition, a personality trait that is a risk factor for anxiety disorders. To understand whether NAc OTR can modulate both social approach and vigilance, we use pharmacological approaches to assess the impact of activation or inhibition of NAc OTR downstream pathways on these behaviors. First, we show that in unstressed male and female California mice, inhibition of OTR by an unbiased antagonist (L-368,899) reduces social approach but does not induce social vigilance. Next, we show that infusion of Atosiban, an OTR-Gq antagonist/OTR-Gi agonist, has the same effect in unstressed females. Finally, we show that Carbetocin, a biased OTR-Gq agonist, increases social approach in stressed females while simultaneously inhibiting social vigilance. Taken together these data suggest that OTR in the NAc differentially modulate social approach and social vigilance, primarily through an OTR-Gq mechanism. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of OTR alone is insufficient to induce vigilance in unstressed mice, suggesting that mechanisms modulating social approach may be distinct from mechanisms modulating social vigilance.
- Subjects :
- Agonist
Male
medicine.drug_class
media_common.quotation_subject
Nucleus accumbens
Social identity approach
Oxytocin
Basic Behavioral and Social Science
Medical and Health Sciences
Nucleus Accumbens
Mice
Receptors
Behavioral and Social Science
medicine
Animals
Wakefulness
Social Behavior
media_common
Pharmacology
Social stress
Psychiatry
business.industry
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Oxytocin receptor
Research Highlight
Psychiatry and Mental health
Receptors, Oxytocin
Anxiety
Female
medicine.symptom
business
Neuroscience
medicine.drug
Vigilance (psychology)
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, vol 45, iss 9, Neuropsychopharmacology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....dc9486c69cfc4896a8a8ff503240b7a9