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Developmental exposure to intranasal vasopressin impacts adult prairie vole spatial memory.

ABSTRACT: Spatial memory is critical for many tasks necessary for survival (i.e., locating mates and food resources). The two mammalian nonapeptides arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) are mechanistically important in modulating memory ability, albeit in contrasting ways. In general, AVP facilitates memory consolidation and retrieval while OT is an amnesic. Although AVP and OT are known to have these memory effects, past work has focused on their impact in social memory with little research on their effects on spatial memory. In this experiment, we tested the impact of AVP and OT on spatial memory as determined by performance in the Morris water maze (MWM). We administered doses of AVP, OT, or saline (a control) intranasally to male prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), a species whose spatial memory is hypothesized to impact their mating tactics. We also investigated if acute doses (given immediately prior to the memory trial in the MWM) and chronic doses (given daily during adolescence) had differing impacts on spatial cognition. We found that chronic intranasal administration of AVP during post-wean development improved spatial memory performance. In contrast, both chronic and acute administration of OT and acute administration of AVP had no impact on spatial memory. These results together suggest that 1) chronic exposure to AVP has organizational effects on spatial memory in the prairie vole, and 2) acute administration of nonapeptides does not impact the retrieval of spatial memories.

SUBMITTER: Finton CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9149121 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Developmental exposure to intranasal vasopressin impacts adult prairie vole spatial memory.

Finton Caitlyn J CJ Ophir Alexander G AG

Psychoneuroendocrinology 20220325

Spatial memory is critical for many tasks necessary for survival (i.e., locating mates and food resources). The two mammalian nonapeptides arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) are mechanistically important in modulating memory ability, albeit in contrasting ways. In general, AVP facilitates memory consolidation and retrieval while OT is an amnesic. Although AVP and OT are known to have these memory effects, past work has focused on their impact in social memory with little research on th ...[more]

PMID: 35397260

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Project description:Interactions between social experiences at different stages of development (e.g., with parents as juveniles and peers as subadults) can profoundly shape the expression of social behavior. Rarely are the influences of more than one stage of developmental sensitivity to social environment investigated simultaneously. Furthermore, oxytocin (OT) has an extraordinary effect on a breadth of social behaviors, activationally or organizationally. The use of intranasal OT (IN-OT) has become increasingly common therapeutically in humans and scientifically in non-human experiments, however very little attention has been paid to the potential developmental consequences on social behavior that might result. We investigated the effects of early-life social environments and the impact of chronic IN-OT on social behavior at different stages of development in male prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). We raised animals under two conditions: "socially enriched" (in which they were biparentally reared and then weaned into group housing as subadults), or "socially limited" (in which they were reared by a single-mother, and that were then weaned into social isolation). Males raised under each condition were either administered daily doses of IN-OT or a saline control for 21 days from postnatal day (PND) 21-42. During this time, we assessed the prosocial behavior subjects demonstrated by evaluating juvenile affiliation (as subadults), alloparental care (as adults no longer being exposed to IN-OT), and partner preference tests to assess tendencies to form adult monogamous pairbonds. We found that "socially limited" males, exhibited increased social contact in juvenile affiliation tests at PND 35 and 42. These males were also more likely to form a partner preference than "socially enriched" males and formed stronger partner preferences overall. IN-OT did not alter these behavioral effects. We also found that "socially limited" males exhibited a distinct response to chronic IN-OT treatment. When compared to all other treatment groups, "socially limited" males that received IN-OT exhibited a greater amount of huddling behavior in the alloparental care test. This effect was, in part, explained by an absence of attack behavior, found only in these males. This study contributes to understanding the complex interactions between the developmental social environment, oxytocin, and social behavior.

Dataset Information

Developmental exposure to intranasal vasopressin impacts adult prairie vole spatial memory.

Publications

Developmental exposure to intranasal vasopressin impacts adult prairie vole spatial memory.

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