title: A single prolonged stress paradigm produces enduring impairments in social bonding in monogamous prairie voles.
abstract: Traumatic events such as natural disasters, violent crimes, tragic accidents, and war, can have devastating impacts on social relationships, including marital partnerships. We developed a single prolonged stress (SPS) paradigm, which consisted of restraint, forced swimming, and ether anesthesia, to establish an animal model relevant to post-traumatic stress disorder. We applied a SPS paradigm to a monogamous rodent, the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) in order to determine whether a traumatic event affects the establishment of pair bonds. We did not detect effects of the SPS treatment on anhedonic or anxiety-like behavior. Sham-treated male voles huddled with their partner females, following a 6day cohabitation, for a longer duration than with a novel female, indicative of a pair bond. In contrast, SPS-treated voles indiscriminately huddled with the novel and partner females. Interestingly, the impairment of pair bonding was rescued by oral administration of paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), after the SPS treatment. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that oxytocin immunoreactivity (IR) was significantly decreased in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), but not in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), 7days after SPS treatment, and recovered 14days after SPS treatment. After the presentation of a partner female, oxytocin neurons labeled with Fos IR was significantly increased in SPS-treated voles compared with sham-treated voles regardless of paroxetine administration. Our results suggest that traumatic events disturb the formation of pair bond possibly through an interaction with the serotonergic system, and that SSRIs are candidates for the treatment of social problems caused by traumatic events. Further, a vole SPS model may be useful for understanding mechanisms underlying the impairment of social bonding by traumatic events.
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Gunma University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, 371-8514, Japan.
authors: Aki
authors: A
authors: Arai
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Gunma University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, 371-8514, Japan.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Hirota
authors: Department of Occupational Therapy, Gunma University, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi 371-8514, Japan.
authors: Naoki
authors: N
authors: Miyase
authors: Department of Occupational Therapy, Gunma University, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi 371-8514, Japan.
authors: Shiori
authors: S
authors: Miyata
authors: Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Yerkes National Primate Center, Emory University School of Medicine, 954 Gatewood Rd. Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.
authors: Larry J
authors: LJ
authors: Young
authors: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Oko-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505, Japan.
authors: Yoji
authors: Y
authors: Osako
authors: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Oko-cho, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505, Japan.
authors: Kazunari
authors: K
authors: Yuri
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Gunma University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, 371-8514, Japan; Department of Occupational Therapy, Gunma University, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi 371-8514, Japan. Electronic address: smitsui@gunma-u.ac.jp.
authors: Shinichi
authors: S
authors: Mitsui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism; D010152:Pair Bond; D017374:Paroxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid / Q000378:metabolism; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin / Q000378:metabolism; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013495:Supraoptic Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin; D017374:Paroxetine; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
keywords: PTSD; Paroxetine; Partner preference; SSRI; Serotonin; Social behavior