Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are neuropeptides with diverse effects on social behavior, cognition and stress responses. Recent studies suggest that OT facilitates and responds to affiliative forms of human–animal interaction (HAI). However, previous studies measuring OT and AVP in dogs have been limited to measures from blood or urine, which present concerns related to the invasiveness of sample collection, the potential for matrix interference in immunoassays, and whether samples can be collected at precise time points to assess event-linked endocrine responses. Previous studies from our laboratory validated salivary measures of OT and AVP in dogs, however, it is currently unknown whether these measures respond dynamically to aspects of HAI. Here, we investigated the effects of affiliative forms of HAI on both plasma and salivary OT and AVP in dogs. We employed a within- and between-subjects design with a group of Labrador retrievers and Labrador retriever × golden retriever crosses (23 females, 15 males). Half of the dogs engaged in 10 min of free-form friendly interaction with a human experimenter (HAI condition), and the other half rested quietly in the same environment, without human interaction (control condition). We collected blood and saliva samples before, and immediately following both experimental conditions, and all samples were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) following previously validated protocols. Dogs participating in HAI exhibited a significant increase in both salivary OT (+39%) and plasma OT (+5.7%) whereas dogs in the control group did not. Salivary AVP showed no change in the HAI group but increased significantly (+33%) in the control group. Plasma AVP decreased significantly following HAI (-13%) but did not change across time in the control condition. Within the dogs exposed to HAI, increases in salivary OT, and decreases in plasma AVP, were predicted by the extent of affiliative behavior between the dog and human (indexed by scores from a principal components analysis of social behaviors between the dog and human). Collectively our results suggest that measures of salivary OT and AVP provide useful biomarkers in studies of HAI, and afford a flexible and non-invasive toolkit than can be employed in diverse research contexts.
Highlights
Studies throughout the last three decades have explored the psychological and physiological effects of human–animal interaction (HAI)
Salivary OT exhibited a significant increase from baseline to posttest in the HAI, but not the control group (Figure 1 and Table 4)
For salivary AVP, there were no between group differences at either time point, the control group exhibited a significant increase in salivary AVP whereas the HAI group did not (Figure 1 and Table 4)
Summary
Studies throughout the last three decades have explored the psychological and physiological effects of human–animal interaction (HAI). Often the aim of such studies is to characterize the mechanisms through which non-human animals affect human health and wellbeing, and in turn, how interaction with humans affects animal participants. Such studies have begun to focus on the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), which, together with (structurally related) arginine vasopressin, is well known for its roles in facilitating selective social bonds, and regulating various aspects of social behavior and cognition in mammals (Carter et al, 2008). Research on the role of OT in HAI has been conducted by measuring OT release during interactions between humans and dogs, and evaluating the effects of exogenous OT administration on dog behavior in this context. A rapidly growing body of research suggests that OT pathways may be centrally involved in affiliative forms of HAI (Beetz et al, 2012; MacLean and Hare, 2015; Carter and Porges, 2016)
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