Early Life Mild Adversity Affects in a Sexually Dimorphic Way the Oxytocinergic System Reducing Close Social Interaction in Adult Male Rats.

ABSTRACT: The oxytocinergic system is highly responsive to early-life experiences, playing a crucial role in regulating social behaviors. In this study, we examined the effects of a neonatal experience modeling maternal neglect on the oxytocinergic system in the adult rat brain. To investigate this, rat pups were exposed to a T-maze during Postnatal Days 10-13, where prohibition of contact with the mother-which served as the expected reward-constituted a mildly aversive experience (Denial of Expected Reward, DER). Our findings revealed that adult males subjected to the DER experience exhibited reduced levels of close social interaction, which could be ameliorated by acute intranasal oxytocin administration. Moreover, adult DER males had decreased expression of oxytocin receptors (OTR) in the medial

SUBMITTER: Androniki R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12721005 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature