Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 169, Issue 3, 1 September 2010, Pages 1235-1247
Neuroscience

Cognitive, Behavioral, and Systems Neuroscience
Research Paper
Oxytocin and vasopressin immunoreactive staining in the brains of Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and greater long-tailed hamsters (Tscherskia triton)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.05.064Get rights and content

Abstract

Immunoreactive (ir) staining of the neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) was performed in the brains of Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and greater long-tailed hamsters (Tscherskia triton)—two species that differ remarkably in social behaviors. Social Brandt's voles had higher densities of OT-ir cells in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and medial amygdala (MeA) as well as higher densities of AVP-ir cells in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) compared to solitary greater long-tailed hamsters. In contrast, the hamsters had higher densities of OT-ir cells in the anterior hypothalamus (AH) and LH and higher densities of AVP-ir cells in the MPOA than the voles. OT-ir and AVP-ir fibers were also found in many forebrain areas with subtle species differences. Given the roles of OT and AVP in the regulation of social behaviors in other rodent species, our data support the hypothesis that species-specific patterns of central OT and AVP pathways may underlie species differences in social behaviors. However, despite a higher density of OT-ir cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) in females than in males in both species, no other sex differences were found in OT-ir or AVP-ir staining. These data failed to support our prediction that a sexually dimorphic pattern of neuropeptide staining in the brain is more apparent in Brandt's voles than in greater long-tailed hamsters.

Section snippets

Subjects

Subjects were adult (3 months of age) male and female Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and greater long-tailed hamsters (Tscherskia triton). Subjects were offspring of laboratory breeding colonies started with field captured animals and maintained in the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. All subjects were maintained in plastic cages (25×14×14 cm3 for Brandt's vole; 27×16×13 cm3 for greater long-tailed hamster) that contained wood shavings. Food and

OT-ir staining

OT-ir stained cells were either present in dense clusters or scattered throughout many forebrain areas in both species. The morphology and overall staining pattern of OT-ir cells were quite similar to that reported in other rodent species (Sofroniew et al., 1979, Wang et al., 1996, Rosen et al., 2008). Very intense staining of OT-ir cells was found in the PVN (Fig. 1A, B) and SON while moderate clusters of OT-ir cells were found throughout the rostral–caudal extent of the MPOA, particularly in

Discussion

Social Brandt's voles and solitary greater long-tailed hamsters show remarkable differences in their social behaviors including reproductive and agonistic behaviors (Yin and Fang, 1998, Zhang et al., 1999, Zhang et al., 2001b; Chen and Shi, 2003). In the present study, we examined central OT-ir and AVP-ir staining in the brains of males and females of both species. While OT-ir and AVP-ir stained cells and fibers were found in many brain areas in both species, as reported in other rodents (

Conclusion

Social Brandt's voles and solitary greater long-tailed hamsters show differences in their social behaviors (Yin and Fang, 1998, Zhang et al., 1999, Zhang et al., 2001b; Chen and Shi, 2003). Here we performed a comparative study for immunoreactive staining of OT and AVP in the brain of both species. Our data illustrated species-specific patterns of OT-ir and AVP-ir staining, supporting the hypothesis that species differences in these central neuropeptide systems may underlie species differences

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (2007BC109101) and from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-N-06) to ZBZ and NIMH R01-58616 to ZW.

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