Cargando…

Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal

The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin modulates numerous social and parental behaviours across a wide range of species, including humans. We conducted manipulation experiments on wild grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) to determine whether oxytocin increases proximity-seeking behaviour, which has previousl...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Robinson, Kelly J., Twiss, Sean D., Hazon, Neil, Moss, Simon, Pomeroy, Patrick P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28539519
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0554
_version_ 1783240806987988992
author Robinson, Kelly J.
Twiss, Sean D.
Hazon, Neil
Moss, Simon
Pomeroy, Patrick P.
author_facet Robinson, Kelly J.
Twiss, Sean D.
Hazon, Neil
Moss, Simon
Pomeroy, Patrick P.
author_sort Robinson, Kelly J.
collection PubMed
description The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin modulates numerous social and parental behaviours across a wide range of species, including humans. We conducted manipulation experiments on wild grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) to determine whether oxytocin increases proximity-seeking behaviour, which has previously been correlated with endogenous oxytocin concentrations in wild seal populations. Pairs of seals that had never met previously were given intravenous injections of 0.41 µg kg(−1) oxytocin or saline and were observed for 1 h post-manipulation. The dose was designed to mimic endogenous oxytocin concentrations during the observation period, and is one of the lowest doses used to manipulate behaviour to date. Seals given oxytocin spent significantly more time in close proximity to each other, confirming that oxytocin causes conspecifics to seek others out and remain close to one another. Aggressive and investigative behaviours also significantly fell after oxytocin manipulations. Despite using a minimal oxytocin dose, pro-social behavioural changes unexpectedly persisted for 2 days despite rapid dose clearance from circulation post-injection. This study verifies that oxytocin promotes individuals staying together, demonstrating how the hormone can form positive feedback loops of oxytocin release following conspecific stimuli, increased motivation to remain in close proximity and additional oxytocin release from stimuli received while in close proximity.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5454273
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher The Royal Society
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-54542732017-06-05 Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal Robinson, Kelly J. Twiss, Sean D. Hazon, Neil Moss, Simon Pomeroy, Patrick P. Proc Biol Sci Behaviour The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin modulates numerous social and parental behaviours across a wide range of species, including humans. We conducted manipulation experiments on wild grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) to determine whether oxytocin increases proximity-seeking behaviour, which has previously been correlated with endogenous oxytocin concentrations in wild seal populations. Pairs of seals that had never met previously were given intravenous injections of 0.41 µg kg(−1) oxytocin or saline and were observed for 1 h post-manipulation. The dose was designed to mimic endogenous oxytocin concentrations during the observation period, and is one of the lowest doses used to manipulate behaviour to date. Seals given oxytocin spent significantly more time in close proximity to each other, confirming that oxytocin causes conspecifics to seek others out and remain close to one another. Aggressive and investigative behaviours also significantly fell after oxytocin manipulations. Despite using a minimal oxytocin dose, pro-social behavioural changes unexpectedly persisted for 2 days despite rapid dose clearance from circulation post-injection. This study verifies that oxytocin promotes individuals staying together, demonstrating how the hormone can form positive feedback loops of oxytocin release following conspecific stimuli, increased motivation to remain in close proximity and additional oxytocin release from stimuli received while in close proximity. The Royal Society 2017-05-31 2017-05-24 /pmc/articles/PMC5454273/ /pubmed/28539519 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0554 Text en © 2017 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Behaviour
Robinson, Kelly J.
Twiss, Sean D.
Hazon, Neil
Moss, Simon
Pomeroy, Patrick P.
Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title_full Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title_fullStr Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title_full_unstemmed Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title_short Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
title_sort positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal
topic Behaviour
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28539519
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0554
work_keys_str_mv AT robinsonkellyj positivesocialbehavioursareinducedandretainedafteroxytocinmanipulationsmimickingendogenousconcentrationsinawildmammal
AT twissseand positivesocialbehavioursareinducedandretainedafteroxytocinmanipulationsmimickingendogenousconcentrationsinawildmammal
AT hazonneil positivesocialbehavioursareinducedandretainedafteroxytocinmanipulationsmimickingendogenousconcentrationsinawildmammal
AT mosssimon positivesocialbehavioursareinducedandretainedafteroxytocinmanipulationsmimickingendogenousconcentrationsinawildmammal
AT pomeroypatrickp positivesocialbehavioursareinducedandretainedafteroxytocinmanipulationsmimickingendogenousconcentrationsinawildmammal