Offspring Human Fertility Behavior in Biodemographic Perspective (2003) / Chapter Skim
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4. The Neural Basis of Pair Bonding in a Monogamous Species: A Model for Understanding the Biological Basis of Human Behavior
4. The Neural Basis of Pair Bonding in a Monogamous Species: A Model for Understanding the Biological Basis of Human Behavior
Pages 91-103
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From page 91... ...
provide a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of mating patterns and parental investments. This chapter discusses in detail the biological mechanisms underlying pair bond formation in monogamous voles.
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From page 92... ...
This chapter reviews the progress in understanding the molecular, cellular and neurobiological nature of pair bonding emerging from intensive studies of monogamous prairie voles, and discusses the implications of this research for human behavior. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)
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From page 93... ...
An animal is said to have developed a partner preference, the laboratory measure of a pair bond, if it spends more than twice as much time in contact with its partner than with the novel stimulus animal. Data collected during tests of partner preference formation in prairie voles suggest that mating facilitates partner preference formation in both male and female prairie voles.
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From page 94... ...
Injections of an OT antagonist, a drug that blocks activation of the OT receptor, directly into the female prairie vole brain prior to cohabitation and mating inhibits the subsequent development of a partner preference (Inse! and Hulihan, 1995~.
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From page 95... ...
Therefore, the prairie and montane voles provide a comparative approach for understanding the biology of the pair bond. Since OT and AVP are involved in pair bond formation in the prairie vole and montane voles fail to produce a pair bond, one might hypothesize that montane voles show lower levels of these peptides in the brain.
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From page 96... ...
Thus one could hypothesize that activation of the oxytocin and vasopressin receptors in these reward centers might result in the development of a conditioned partner preference in prairie voles. Since montane voles have few receptors in these regions, mating and/or the release of peptides in the brain would not result in the formation of a partner preference but may instead elicit other types of behaviors.
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From page 97... ...
Those animals with artificially elevated vasopressin receptors in the ventral pallidum displayed increased levels of affiliative behavior toward a novel juvenile (i.e., increased investigation and huddling) and readily formed strong pair bonds even in the absence of mating (Pitkow et al., 2001~.
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From page 98... ...
Mice transgenic for the prairie vole vasopressin receptor gene displayed a pattern of VlaR binding that was remarkably similar to that of prairie voles but very different from nontransgenic mice (Young et al., 1999~. When injected with vasopressin, the mice with a prairie vole pattern of vasopressin receptor expression in the brain responded similarly to prairie voles by exhibiting increased levels of affiliative behavior.
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From page 99... ...
In addition to pair bonding, the VlaR appears to alter other aspects of social behavior. For example, infusion of AVP into the prairie vole brain increases general social interaction.
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Molecular studies in voles suggest that mutations in the 5 prime regulatory region of the vasopressin receptor could be responsible for the species differences in receptor expression patterns in the brain. Interestingly, the human vasopressin receptor gene also has highly repetitive sequences in the same region of the gene (Thibonnier et al., 2000~.
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From page 101... ...
This suggests that perhaps similar neural circuits are used to facilitate pair bonding in voles and humans. Perhaps the saying "love is an addiction" has biological support.
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From page 102... ...
Hulihan 1995 A gender-specific mechanism for pair bonding: Oxytocin and partner preference formation in monogamous voles. Behavioral Neuroscience 109:782-789.
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Carter 1992 Development of partner preferences in female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) : The role of social and sexual experience.
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