title: Early bi-parental separation or neonatal paternal deprivation in mandarin voles reduces adult offspring paternal behavior and alters serum corticosterone levels and neurochemistry.
abstract: Although the effect of early social environments on maternal care in adulthood has been examined in detail, few studies have addressed the long-term effect on paternal care and its underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. Here, using monogamous mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus) that show high levels of paternal care, the effects of early bi-parental separation (EBPS) or neonatal paternal deprivation (NPD) on adult paternal behavior, serum corticosterone levels, and receptor mRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial preoptic area (MPOA) were investigated. Compared to the parental care group (PC), we found that EBPS reduced crouching behavior and increased inactivity, self-grooming, and serum corticosterone levels in adult offspring; and NPD significantly reduced retrieval behavior and increased self-grooming behavior of offspring at adulthood. EBPS displayed more dopamine type I receptor (D1R) mRNA expression in the NAcc, but less oxytocin receptor (OTR) mRNA expression than PC in the MPOA. Both EBPS and NPD exhibited more mRNA expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) than PC in the MPOA. In the EBPS group, increased serum corticosterone concentration was closely associated with reduced crouching behavior, and reduced expression of OTR was closely associated with altered crouching behavior and increased D1R expression. Our results provide substantial evidence that EBPS or NPD has long-term consequences and reduces paternal behavior in adult animals. Importantly the oxytocin system in the MPOA might interact with NAcc dopamine systems to regulate paternal behavior and EBPS may affect interactions between the MPOA and NAcc.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral and Physical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China; Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral and Physical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral and Physical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Xibo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Biotechnology, Xi'an University of Arts and Science, Xi'an 710065, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Fengqin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: taifadao@snnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fadao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006120:Grooming; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism; D010332:Paternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000378:metabolism; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin; C027460:dopamine-I receptor; D010121:Oxytocin; D004298:Dopamine; D003345:Corticosterone
keywords: Corticosterone; Early life environment; Mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus); Medial preoptic area; Nucleus accumbens; Paternal behavior