Social isolation impairs adult neurogenesis in the limbic system and alters behaviors in female prairie voles.

ABSTRACT: Disruptions in the social environment, such as social isolation, are distressing and can induce various behavioral and neural changes in the distressed animal. We conducted a series of experiments to test the hypothesis that long-term social isolation affects brain plasticity and alters behavior in the highly social prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster). In Experiment 1, adult female prairie voles were injected with a cell division marker, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), and then same-sex pair-housed (control) or single-housed (isolation) for 6 weeks. Social isolation reduced cell proliferation, survival, and neuronal differentiation and altered cell death in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and the amygdala. In addition, social isolation reduced cell proliferation in the medial preoptic

SUBMITTER: Lieberwirth C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3565461 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature