Gene Therapy Turns Elk-voles Into Stork-voles!!! (If we at Brin-L made headers like The National Enquirer... :D )
But this is quite fascinating (and maybe a little bit disturbing): http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/89/100115.htm?printing=true "...researchers say they've found a gene that appears to have a profound effect on the social behavior of animals. The gene, known as the vasopressin receptor, is located in the brain's reward center and may also be involved in drug addiction. Researchers say the findings may help explain the neurobiology behind romantic love as well as disorders such as autism that affect how people form social bonds. "In the study, researchers used a harmless virus to transfer the gene from monogamous male prairie voles, who are known to form lifelong bonds with a single mate, into the brain of meadow voles, who mate with multiple partners and lack vasopressin receptors in their brain's reward center. A few days later, the meadow voles had vasopressin receptors levels similar to those found in the prairie voles. "Researchers paired the animals with sexually receptive mates and allowed them a day to get to know each other before the males were given a fidelity test. Each vole was allowed to wander between his first partner and a new potential mate. The study showed that both the prairie voles and the genetically modified meadow moles huddled close to their original partner while the untreated meadow voles behaved like loners and spent time by themselves... "...Researchers say previous research has shown that these vasopressin receptors may play a role in social disorders, such as autism, that make it difficult to form social bonds. Studies in humans have also suggested that the same brain pathways involved in forming romantic relationships may also be involved in drug addiction. "The brain process of bonding with one's partner may be similar to becoming addicted to drugs: both activate reward circuits in the brain," says researcher Miranda Lim, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University, in a news release. "Pair bonding in humans is a much more complex process than in moles, and researchers say social, economic, historic, and individual differences all play a role. "Our study, however, provides evidence, in a comparatively simple animal model, that changes in the activity of a single gene profoundly can change a fundamental social behavior of animals within a species," says researcher Larry J. Young, PhD, of Emory University's School of Medicine..." Here is a 2001 technical article from the same group on the same subject (article much longer): http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/21/18/7392 "...In addition, males overexpressing the V1aR in the ventral pallidal region, but not control males, formed strong partner preferences after an overnight cohabitation, without mating, with a female. These data demonstrate a role for ventral pallidal V1aR in affiliation and social attachment and provide a potential molecular mechanism for species differences in social organization....A second [caveat] is the possibility that regions other than the ventral pallidum are involved in the AVP-dependent regulation of social behavior and pair bonding. V1aRs are also found in the amygdala, thalamus, cingulate cortex, and olfactory bulb. Although our results do not rule out an involvement of these areas, they do demonstrate that increased levels of V1aR in the ventral pallidum facilitate partner-preference formation....The V1aR-VP males exhibited a strong partner preference after the 17 hr cohabitation without mating. It is important to note that in previous studies from our group, male prairie voles that cohabitated with a female for 24 hr did form partner preferences if mating occurred, but typically did not if mating did not occur (Insel and Hulihan, 1995; Insel et al., 1995). Thus, it seems that by increasing the density of V1aR in the ventral pallidum, the amount of social stimulation required to form a partner preference was decreased.... "...This striatopallidal system is an important neurobiological substrate for the rewarding and reinforcing properties of natural stimuli and psychostimulants (McBride et al., 1999). Infusion of psychostimulants directly into the ventral pallidum leads to the development a conditioned place preference for the environment in which the injections were experienced (Gong et al., 1996). Given the abundance of V1aR in the prairie vole ventral pallidum and its role in conditioned place preference, we hypothesize that AVP released during social interactions or mating activates V1aR in the ventral pallidum. Activation of this reward circuitry then reinforces this behavior, leading to an increase in social interactions. In a mating pair, the reinforcement is powerful enough to lead to a conditioned partner preference in the monogamous prairie vole and thereby initiates the formation of a pair bond. The lack of V1aR in the ventral pallidum of nonmonogamous vole species may explain their inability to form partner preferences after mating. There are most certainly other genetic, neurochemical, or anatomical differences between monogamous and nonmonogamous species that contribute to their diverse social behavior; however, the viral vector approach provides an opportunity to test this hypothesis.... "...The role of AVP in facilitating pair bonding in the male prairie vole is remarkably parallel to that of oxytocin in the female prairie vole. In the female it is oxytocin, not vasopressin, that facilitates the formation of the pair bond with the mate (Insel and Hulihan, 1995). Oxytocin antagonist infused into the nucleus accumbens prevents partner-preference formation in the female (Young et al., 2001). In addition, prairie voles have much higher concentrations of oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbens than do nonmonogamous vole species (Insel and Shapiro, 1992). Dopamine D2 receptor antagonists infused into the nucleus accumbens also prevent partner-preference formation (Gingrich et al., 2000). Thus it appears that pair bonding is facilitated in a sex-specific manner, by two different neuropeptide systems acting at two separate points in a common neural circuit. "Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the striatopallidal reward circuitry facilitates certain aspects of affiliation and social attachment, implying common neural pathways for social attachment and the reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse (Panksepp, 1998). A recent functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the pattern of brain activation and deactivation in human subjects as they viewed photographs of individuals with whom they reported to be romantically in love. The regions of activation were strikingly similar to those activated in studies of cocaine- and µ opioid agonist-induced euphoria..." A more readable overview for those who don't care what a palladium is - or think it only has something to do with computers: ;) http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/14756#18144 http://makeashorterlink.com/?R23025898 Debbi who is glad that the vole her cat brought home last week was likely a mountain vole, lest she have to think of the partner left behind... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
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