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Gene x environment interactions can influence the development and expression of social behavior. The early postnatal period is a critical stage when social stimuli have significant organizational effects in the brain that influence the expression of adult social behavior. This study examines the phenotypic plasticity of social behavior in response to the early social environment (ESE), and how it organizes the underlying mechanisms that regulate social behaviors. The focus of this study is three of the major factors that influence the expression of adult social behavior, the neuropeptides: oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) as well as estrogen receptor alpha (ERa). The experiments in this study utilized two behaviorally distinct populations of prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), by crossbreeding and cross-fostering pups from the less social Kansas (KS) population to the more social Illinois (IL) population and vice versa. This was done to determine the influence of the ESE on aggressive/prosocial behavior, and the expression of OT and AVP as well as ERa, in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), the medial amygdala (MeA) and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). Results from the cross-fostering experiments demonstrate a significant effect of treatment on the adult social behavior and its underlying mechanisms. Specifically, the expression of ERa in the BST (ANOVA F(5,46)= 9.8 P |
