title: Social motivation is reduced in vasopressin 1b receptor null mice despite normal performance in an olfactory discrimination task.
abstract: In this study, we characterized more thoroughly the social behavior of vasopressin 1b receptor null (V1bR-/-) mice. We confirmed that V1bR-/- males exhibit less social aggression than their wild-type (V1bR+/+) littermates. We tested social preference by giving male subjects a choice between pairs of soiled or clean bedding. In general, V1bR+/+ mice spent significantly more time engaged in chemoinvestigation of these social stimuli than V1bR-/- mice. Male V1bR+/+ mice preferred female-soiled bedding over male-soiled bedding, male-soiled bedding over clean bedding, and female-soiled bedding over clean bedding. In contrast, V1bR-/- males failed to exhibit a preference for any bedding. This difference in behavior is not explained by an anosmic condition as there were no differences between V1bR-/- and V1bR+/+ mice in their abilities to detect a cookie buried in clean bedding, or in their ability to perform in an operant conditioning task using a fully automated liquid dilution olfactometer. In the latter task, male V1bR-/- mice were fully capable of discriminating between male and female mouse urine. The latencies to learn this task did not differ between the two genotypes. Thus, a V1bR-/- male's ability to differentiate between male and female chemosensory cues appears no different than that of a V1bR+/+ male's. We propose that the V1bR plays an important role in social motivation, perhaps by coupling the processing, integration, and/or interpretation of chemosensory cues with the appropriate behavioral response.
authors.affiliation: Section on Neural Gene Expression, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Scott R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wersinger
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Kelliher
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zufall
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lolait
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: O'Carroll
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009042:Motivation; D011897:Random Allocation; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin / Q000172:deficiency / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin