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The structural-functional relationship of the vole social brain in pair bond formation and maintenance
Gossman, Kyle
Gossman, Kyle
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Abstract
In this dissertation, the structural-functional relationship of the vole social brain was investigated during pair bond formation and maintenance of male and female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). As reviewed in Chapter 1, the formation of social attachments, particularly intimate relationships or pair bonds, is beneficial for many social species, resulting in increased survival and fitness, as well as positively correlated with physical and mental health. The formation and maintenance of social attachments can be complex and require the commitment of the pair through selective affiliation toward a partner and aggression or rejection toward other potential conspecifics. These complex, context-appropriate behaviors are suggested to be processed and regulated by the activity of a network of regions rather than the activity of any single region. One such network that is thought to regulate these social behaviors is the social decision-making network (SDMN), which is comprised of the social behavior network and the mesolimbic reward system. However, this network is theoretical, and the structural-functional relationship of this network has yet to be investigated. Unlike other rodent models, the monogamous prairie voles provide an excellent rodent model to investigate the structural-functional relationship of the SDMN, as they form male-female pair bonds and demonstrate specific formation and maintenance behaviors. In Chapter 2, I investigated the functional connectivity of pair-bonded male prairie voles following the exposure to various social stimuli. I found that pair-bonded male voles display distinct regional activity patterns, and distinct modular organization in functional connectivity networks. These data provide evidence of how regions are interacting with one another to process different social stimuli for the output of selective affiliation toward a partner and selective aggression toward an opposite-sex or same-sex stranger conspecifics. In Chapter 3, I assess the structural connectivity, or the physical projections of the vole social brain, a network comprised of the SDMN plus the anterior cingulate cortex and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and the inputs of the fore- and mid-brain to the vole social brain. I demonstrate that majority of the regions within the vole social brain share bidirectional projections. Furthermore, network analysis suggests that the anterior hypothalamus is a key region or hub that may help process and integrate necessary information throughout the network for context-appropriate behaviors. In Chapter 4, I investigated the functional specialization of dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area during pair bond formation. I demonstrate that two neuropeptides, GABA and corticotropin-releasing factor, modulate NAc-projecting dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area to promote a partner preference in male and female prairie voles. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I discussed the findings of this research. The integration of the structural connectivity data with the functional connectivity data suggests a first-order network and I further characterize the local circuit and inputs into the ventral tegmental area and their modulation of dopamine. Overall, we shed light on the network connectivity of the vole social brain during behaviors associated with pair bond formation and maintenance. Lastly, future directions such as regional activity of the mesolimbic reward system and investigation of how CRF modulates dopamine are discussed.
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2025-05-31
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University of Kansas
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Neurosciences, Behavioral sciences, partner preference, prairie vole, reward system, social brain, social decision-making network, structural-functional relationship