Intranasal oxytocin drives coordinated social approach

Patrick K Monari,Juliette Schefelker,Catherine A Marler,Nathaniel S Rieger

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97468-0

Patrick K Monari, Juliette Schefelker + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97468-0

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Abstract

Coordinated responses to challenge are essential to survival for bonded monogamous animals and may depend on behavioral compatibility. Oxytocin (OT) context-dependently regulates social affiliation and vocal communication, but its role in pair members’ decision to jointly respond to challenge is unclear. To test for OT effects, California mouse females received an intranasal dose of OT (IN-OT) or saline after bonding with males either matched or mismatched in their approach response to an aggressive vocal challenge. Pair mates were re-tested jointly for approach response, time spent together, and vocalizations. Females and males converged in their approach after pairing, but mismatched pairs with females given a single dose of IN-OT displayed a greater convergence that resulted from behavioral changes by both pair members. Unpaired females given IN-OT did not change their approach, indicating a social partner was necessary for effects to emerge. Moreover, IN-OT increased time spent approaching together, suggesting behavioral coordination beyond a further increase in bonding. This OT-induced increase in joint approach was associated with a decrease in the proportion of sustained vocalizations, a type of vocalization that can be associated with intra-pair conflict. Our results expand OT’s effects on behavioral coordination and underscore the importance of emergent social context.

Highlights

Coordinated responses to challenge are essential to survival for bonded monogamous animals and may depend on behavioral compatibility
We speculate that vocal communication plays a role in the decision to adopt one coordination type over the other, as paired California mice display a rich variety of ultrasonic vocalization (USV) that have been linked to complex social b ehavior[39,40]
Males (37.96 ± 4.19 s s.e.m.), with a general linear model (GLM) of approach regressed on sex revealing no mean difference between sexes (F(1,90) = 0.597, p = 0.442; Fig. 2B)

Summary

Introduction

Coordinated responses to challenge are essential to survival for bonded monogamous animals and may depend on behavioral compatibility. Oxytocin (OT) context-dependently regulates social affiliation and vocal communication, but its role in pair members’ decision to jointly respond to challenge is unclear. To test for OT effects, California mouse females received an intranasal dose of OT (IN-OT) or saline after bonding with males either matched or mismatched in their approach response to an aggressive vocal challenge. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) context-dependently regulates social affiliation[17] and vocal communication[18], and by extension may impact response compatibility, but its role in pair members’ decision to jointly react to challenge is unclear. IN-OT reduced xenophobic aggression when paired with injunctive prosocial norms of peers, but not when administered without t hem[28] Taken together, this evidence supports the notion that OT signaling influences how social affiliations moderate responses to the outgroup. The potential neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying this coordination-induced change to social approach have yet to be studied

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