title: Intranasal administration of oxytocin promotes social play in domestic dogs.
abstract: In a recent paper,(1) we examined whether oxytocin in the domestic dog modulates the maintenance of close social bonds in non-reproductive contexts. We found that exogenous oxytocin promotes positive social behaviors not only toward conspecifics, but also toward human partners. Here we examined in further detail the effect that oxytocin manipulation has on social play. When sprayed with oxytocin, subjects initiated play sessions more often and played for longer periods of time than when sprayed with saline. Furthermore, after oxytocin nasal intake dogs displayed play signals more often than after saline administration, suggesting that oxytocin enhances dogs' play motivation. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that oxytocin promotes social play in the domestic dog. We use these results to hypothesize on the potential therapeutic use of oxytocin for promoting social behaviors and treating social deficits in the domestic dog.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences; Graduate School of Arts and Science; The University of Tokyo ; Tokyo, Japan ; Japanese Society for the Promotion of Sciences ; Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology; Azabu University ; Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology; Azabu University ; Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mogi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences; Graduate School of Arts and Science; The University of Tokyo ; Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology; Azabu University ; Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takefumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kikusui
keywords: companion animals; domestic dogs; oxytocin; social bonds; social play