Effects of oxytocin receptor agonism on acquisition and expression of pair bonding in male prairie voles.

ABSTRACT: There is much interest in targeting the activity in the oxytocin system to regulate social bonding. However, studies with exogenous administration of oxytocin face the caveats of its low stability, poor brain permeability and insufficient receptor specificity. The use of a small-molecule oxytocin receptor-specific agonist could overcome these caveats. Prior to testing the potential effects of a brain-penetrant oxytocin receptor agonist in clinical settings, it is important to assess how such an agonist would affect social bonds in animal models. The facultatively monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), capable of forming long-term social attachments between adult individuals, are an ideal rodent model for such testing. Therefore, in a series of experiments we investigated the effe

SUBMITTER: Johnson MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11251033 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature