Abstract
Adult male-female bonds are partly characterized by initiating and maintaining close proximity with a social partner, as well as engaging in high levels of affiliative and sociosexual behavior. Oxytocin (OXT), a neuromodulatory nonapeptide, plays a critical role in the facilitation of social bonding and prosocial behavior toward a social partner (Feldman, 2012). However, less attention has been given to whether augmentation of OXT levels in an individual alters others’ perceptions and behavior toward an OXT-treated social partner. We examined social dynamics in well-established male-female pairs of marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) in which one member of the pair was administered an intranasal OXT agonist, an OXT antagonist (OXTA), or saline. OXT treatment did not alter the expression of affiliative toward an untreated partner. However, OXT did significantly influence the expression of proximity and grooming behavior with a treated partner, as a function of OXT treatment and sex. Female interest in initiating and maintaining proximity with a pair-mate was altered by OXT treatment. Untreated female marmosets departed from their saline-treated partner more frequently than they approached them, as indicated by a low proximity index score. However, when males received an intranasal OXT agonist they had a significantly increased proximity index score relative to saline, indicating that their untreated partner approached them more often than they departed from them). Saline-treated females initiated and received equivalent levels of grooming behavior. However, when female marmosets were treated with an OXT agonist their untreated partner groomed them proportionately more often, for a greater total duration, and for more time per bout, than they initiated grooming behavior. These results suggest that intranasal OXT altered male and female marmosets’ stimulus properties in such a way as to increase the amount of grooming behavior that females received from their long-term mate, as well as increase female interest in initiating and maintaining proximity with their long-term mate. Furthermore, these results support the notion that central OXT activity plays an important neuromodulatory role in the maintenance of long-lasting male-female relationships.
Highlights
Adult male-female bonds function to facilitate reproduction, and lessen detrimental health outcomes due to stress and anxiety in socially monogamous species (Carter, 1998)
Untreated female marmosets departed from their saline-treated male partner more frequently than they approached them (t(5) = −3.59, p = 0.016), as indicated by a low proximity index score
Proximity index scores were significantly increased in males that received Pro8-OXT (t(5) = 3.86, p = 0.012), and moderately, but not significantly, increased in males that received Leu8-OXT (t(5) = 2.02, p = 0.10), relative to saline
Summary
Adult male-female bonds function to facilitate reproduction, and lessen detrimental health outcomes due to stress and anxiety in socially monogamous species (Carter, 1998). Forming and maintaining high-quality, long-lasting social relationships is critical for an individual’s survival and reproduction. Adult male-female bonds are partly characterized by initiating and maintaining close proximity with a social partner, as well as engaging in high levels of affiliative and sociosexual behavior (Kleiman, 1977). There is considerable evidence that the oxytocin (OXT) system plays a critical role in the facilitation of social bonds (Lim and Young, 2006; Kendrick, 2000) and the expression of prosocial behavior toward a social partner, including affiliation (Feldman, 2012), cooperation (De Dreu, 2012), and trust (Mikolajczak et al, 2010), presumably by acting on OXTrelevant nuclei in the ‘‘social brain’’ (Macdonald and Macdonald, 2010). The OXT system has a critical role in the expression of partner-preference behavior and the formation of adult malefemale bonds
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