Submissive Behavior Research Articles

Neurosteroid correlates of emotional behavior in alcohol dependence

The aim of the study was to determine neurosteroid correlates of emotional behavior of animals under conditions of alcohol dependence. Ethological testing made it possible to identify rats with basic different types of emotional behavior in the general pool of animals: zoocentric, dominant or submissive and to track their change under the influence of prolonged (30 days) alcoholization with 15 % ethanol solution. It was found that hypothalamic testosterone, hippocampal progesterone and amygdala dehydroepiandrosterone are associated with the basic emotional behavior of animals. Chronic alcoholism caused a decrease in the concentration of sex steroids (testosterone and estradiol), dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol in the hypothalamus and an increase in the content of progesterone in it; a decrease in the level of all studied neurosteroids in the hippocampus, while in the amygdala these indicators increased (with the exception of dehydroepiandrosterone). It was shown that the basic emotional behavior of rats that chose water in the two-bottle test was significantly different from that of rats that preferred ethanol solution: first of all, this was related to animals with dominant and submissive behavior, in which the level of testosterone in the hypothalamus increased significantly, in contrast to zoocentric rats. The individual dose of ethanol consumed in animals that chose water in the two-bottle test was almost two times less than the individual dose in rats that preferred ethanol solution, which was associated with cortisol levels in the hippocampus and hypothalamus of the brain of animals after 30 days alcoholization. Consequently, long-term alcohol consumption led to the involvement of a pool of neurohormones (hypothalamic progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, estradiol, and cortisol; hippocampal testosterone and amygdala progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and cortisol) to regulate emotional behavior. In addition, neuroactive steroids of the peripheral circulation, such as the sex hormones testosterone and estradiol and progesterone, also had a certain effect.

Traumatic brain injury-induced submissive behavior in rats: link to depression and anxiety

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people worldwide, many of whom are affected with post-TBI mood disorders or behavioral changes, including aggression or social withdrawal. Diminished functionality can persist for decades after TBI and delay rehabilitation and resumption of employment. It has been established that there is a relationship between these mental disorders and brain injury. However, the etiology and causal relationships behind these conditions are poorly understood. Rodent models provide a helpful tool for researching mood disorders and social impairment due to their natural tendencies to form social hierarchies. Here, we present a rat model of mental complications after TBI using a suite of behavioral tests to examine the causal relationships between changes in social behavior, including aggressive, hierarchical, depressive, and anxious behavior. For this purpose, we used multivariate analysis to identify causal relationships between the above post-TBI psychiatric sequelae. We performed statistical analysis using principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, and correlation analysis, and built a model to predict dominant-submissive behavior based on the behavioral tests. This model displayed a predictive accuracy of 93.3% for determining dominant-submissive behavior in experimental groups. Machine learning algorithms determined that in rats, aggression is not a principal prognostic factor for dominant-submissive behavior. Alternatively, dominant-submissive behavior is determined solely by the rats’ depressive-anxious state and exploratory activity. We expect the causal approach used in this study will guide future studies into mood conditions and behavioral changes following TBI.

Citizen Science Mosquito Surveillance by Ad Hoc Observation Using the iNaturalist Platform.

Citizen science mosquito surveillance has been growing in recent years due to both increasing concern about mosquito-borne disease and the increasing popularity of citizen science projects globally. Health authorities are recognising the potential importance of citizen science to expanding or enhancing traditional surveillance programs. Different programs have shown success in engaging communities to monitor species of medical importance through low-cost methods. The Mozzie Monitors project was established on iNaturalist—an open citizen science platform that allows participants to upload photos (i.e., observers) and assist identification (i.e., identifiers). This article describes the likelihood of citizen scientists submitting photos of mosquitoes, assesses user submission behaviour, and evaluates public health utility from these citizen science-derived data. From October 2018 to July 2021, the Mozzie Monitors project on iNaturalist received 2118 observations of 57 different species of mosquitoes across Australia. The number of observers in the system increased over time with more than 500 observers and 180 identifiers being active in the project since its establishment. Data showed species bias with large-bodied and colourful mosquitoes being over-represented. Analyses also indicate regional differentiation of mosquito fauna per state, seasonality of activity, and ecological information about mosquitoes. The iNaturalist citizen science platform also allows connectedness, facilitated communication and collaboration between overall users and expert entomologists, of value to medical entomology and mosquito management.

Social Behavior and Group Formation in Male Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus): The Effects of Age and Musth in Wild and Zoo-Housed Animals.

Simple SummaryThe conservation of wild and zoo-housed Asian elephants partly depends on developing our understanding of male elephant social behavior. Once thought to be solitary, we now know that male elephants can display rich social exchanges with both males and females. However, these interactions are expected to change with age and around the sexually active state of “musth.” We used behavioral data from wild and zoo-housed elephant populations to investigate how age, musth, and environmental factors influence how male elephants socialize and associate with group members. In Sri Lanka, only male elephants of older age (>20 years) exhibited signs of musth, but even some of the youngest zoo-housed elephants underwent musth (as young as 11 years). Additionally, we found that age and musth status predicted whether a wild male elephant associated with females, other males or was alone, as well as the number of conspecifics (males and females) in the same group with which a male was observed. Finally, rates of aggression, prosocial behavior (affiliative behaviors that promote positive social bonds between elephants), and submissive behavior exhibited by wild and zoo-housed male elephants were associated with age, musth status, the number of elephants presented, and group type (all-male or mixed sex). These results provide motivation for future studies of social behavior in male Asian elephants, as they will contribute to the reproduction and conservation of this endangered species.Asian elephants are endangered, and the long-term viability of the species depends on integrative approaches to address the sustainability of in-situ and ex-situ populations. Growing evidence shows that male elephants exhibit extensive and flexible social behavior that rivals the complexity of that of females. Male elephant sociality is expected to change dramatically around the unique sexual state of musth. However, data related to male Asian elephant sociality is lacking. Here, we conducted complementary observations in Wasgamuwa National Park, Sri Lanka, and North American zoos of male Asian elephant social behavior. Age and musth status, along with other factors, were associated with variation in social behavior and group formation of males. In wild male elephants, both musth status and age impacted elephant associations within all-male and mixed-sex groups: non-musth elephants were generally sighted less often in mixed-sex groups as they aged, while the inverse occurred with musth elephants. Musth status interacted with age to predict the number of conspecifics with which a wild male elephant associated: younger males were observed with more females during non-musth (but the opposite was true during musth), and male elephants between 20 and 30 years were observed with the highest number of male conspecifics except during musth. Finally, we found variation in aggression, prosocial behavior, and submissive behavior was influenced by intrinsic (age and musth status) and extrinsic factors (group size and type) in similar ways in both populations; prosocial behavior was most common and was influenced by the number of conspecifics present (both populations), and age, group type, and musth status (zoo population), while aggression was rare, especially among older elephants. We suggest that longitudinal studies of this threatened species will be particularly helpful to promote the reproduction and conservation of Asian elephants in in-situ and ex-situ environments.

Dopamine modulates social behaviour in cooperatively breeding fish

Dopamine is part of the reward system triggering the social decision-making network in the brain. It has hence great potential importance in the regulation of social behaviour, but its significance in the control of behaviour in highly social animals is currently limited. We studied the role of the dopaminergic system in social decision-making in the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish, Neolamprologus pulcher, by blocking or stimulating the dopaminergic D1-like and D2-like receptors. We first tested the effects of different dosages and timing of administration on subordinate group members’ social behaviour within the group in an unchallenging environment. In a second experiment we pharmacologically manipulated D1-like and D2-like receptors while experimentally challenging N. pulcher groups by presenting an egg predator, and by increasing the need for territory maintenance through digging out sand from the shelter. Our results show that the D1-like and D2-like receptor pathways are differently involved in the modulation of aggressive, submissive and affiliative behaviours. Interestingly, the environmental context seems particularly crucial regarding the role of the D2-like receptors in behavioural regulation of social encounters among group members, indicating a potential pathway in agonistic and cooperative interactions in a pay-to-stay scenario. We discuss the importance of environmental information in mediating the role of dopamine for the modulation of social behaviour.

Cooperative breeding in Neolamprologus bifasciatus , a cichlid fish inhabiting the deep reefs of Lake Tanganyika

Cooperative breeding, a social system in which offspring receive care from other group members as well as their parents, occurs in insects, fish, birds and mammals. In this study, we report a new example of cooperative breeding in the cichlid fish (Neolamprologus bifasciatus). This species, endemic to Lake Tanganyika, Africa, inhabits rocky areas at depths below 30 m. Observations of eight nests using underwater video cameras showed that one to six subordinates were present in the nests of breeding pairs. The subordinates shared shelters with juveniles and breeders and engaged in brood/territorial defence and nest maintenance (removing sand from the nest), albeit at a lower frequency than female breeders. The frequency of sand digging by subordinates and female breeders decreased as the number of subordinates in the group increased, suggesting that subordinates reduce the costs of nest maintenance for breeders. The male breeders seldom showed territorial defence and nest maintenance. Subordinates exhibited submissive behaviours towards dominant breeders and larger subordinates within their breeding group, indicating a dominance hierarchy among group members. Gonad examination revealed that the subordinates of both sexes were sexually immature, suggesting that they may not participate in reproduction. An aquarium experiment showed that juveniles become subordinates in their natal nest and participate in territory defence. We conclude that N. bifasciatus is a cooperative breeder, with social systems and subordinate roles similar to those observed in other cooperatively breeding cichlids.

Portrayal of Parent- Children Relationship in Television Drama Serials of Pakistan

Purpose: The current research investigates the portrayal of the parent- children relationship in prime-time entertainment television dramas of Pakistan. Relationship between parenting style and socio-economic status of the parents has been analyzed.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Quantitative Content Analysis has been applied to measure the portrayal of parents in Drama serials. Top three entertainment channels ARY Digital, Hum TV and Geo TV were the targeted channels and parent-children based episodes were selected through purposive sampling. Out of 147 episodes, 308 scenes were selected. Scenes were coded on the predefined categories found in existing literature.
 Findings: The results showed that there was not much significant relationship found between socio-economic status of the parents and their parenting style. However, generation raised by parents with high socio-economic status showed submissive behavior towards their parents while the children raised by parents with low socio-economic status showed disrespectful behavior to their parents.
 Implications/Originality/Value: The findings suggest policy consideration to Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority regarding parents’ portrayal in drama serials. As respecting parents is our cultural value without any difference in socio economic status. But more materialistic approach is being projected in TV channels which need a second thought as the social norms.

Reproductive skew, fighting costs and winner–loser effects in social dominance evolution

Social hierarchies are often found in group‐living animals and can be formed through pairwise aggressive interactions. The dominance rank can influence reproductive success (RS) with a skew towards high‐ranking individuals.Using game theory, we investigate how the opportunity for differently ranked individuals to achieve RS influences the costs of hierarchy formation and the strength of winner and loser effects.In our model, individuals adjust their aggressive and submissive behaviour towards others through reinforcement learning. The learning is based on rewards and penalties, which depend on relative fighting ability. From individual‐based simulations, we determine evolutionary equilibria of traits such as learning rates. We examine situations that differ in the extent of monopolisation of contested RS by dominants and in the proportion of total RS that is contested.The model implements two kinds of fighting costs: a decrease in effective fighting ability from damage (loss of condition) and a risk of mortality that increases with the total accumulated damage. Either of these costs can limit the amount of fighting.We find that individuals form stable dominance hierarchies, with a positive correlation between dominance position and fighting ability. The accumulated costs differ between dominance positions, with the highest costs paid by low or intermediately ranked individuals. Costs tend to be higher in high‐skew situations.We identify a ‘stay‐in, opt‐out’ syndrome, comprising a range from weaker (stay‐in) to stronger (opt‐out) winner–loser effects. We interpret the opt‐out phenotype to be favoured by selection on lower ranked individuals to opt out of contests over social dominance, because it is more pronounced when more of the total RS is uncontested.We discuss our results in relation to field and experimental observations and argue that there is a need for empirical investigation of the behaviour and reproductive success of lower ranked individuals.

Determınıng The Relatıonshıp Between Nursıng Students’ Alexıthymıa Levels and Submıssıve Behavıor and Self-Esteem

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between that nursing students’ alexithymia levels with submissive behavior and self-esteem. Material and Method: The population of the study consists of nursing students studying at Kilis 7 Aralık University. Its sample consists of 226 nursing students. The study was conducted between January  February 2021. Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Submissive Behaviors Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used for data. The data were evaluated in the SPSS 24.0 statistics program. In addition to descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and correlation tests were used to evaluate the data obtained in the study. Ethics committee and institution permission was obtained in order to conduct the study. Findings: Nursing students Toronto Alexithymia Scale total score average is 51.94 ± 9.97, Submissive Behaviors Scale total score average is 40.57 ± 9.90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale total score average is found as 29.63 ± 4.18. Nursing students alexithymia levels with between submissive behavior was determined positive way a weak relationship (r = 0.369, p = 0.000). Students’ alexithymia levels with between Self-Esteem was found negative way a middle-level relationship (r = -0.461, p = 0.000). It was determined that 51.3 % of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale received > 52 points. Result: Nursing students’ alexithymia level were determined that submissive behavior and self-esteem are middle. As alexithymia level increased, also is increased show submissive behavior and as alexithymia level decreased, was determined self-esteem increased.

Ropanicant (SUVN-911), an α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist intended for the treatment of depressive disorders: pharmacological, behavioral, and neurochemical characterization.

Ropanicant (SUVN-911) (3-(6-Chloropyridine-3-yloxymethyl)-2-azabicyclo (3.1.0) hexane hydrochloride) is a novel α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) antagonist being developed for the treatment of depressive disorders. Pharmacological and neurochemical characterization of Ropanicant to support a potential molecule for the treatment of depressive disorders. Ropanicant was assessed for antidepressant-like activity using the rat forced swimming test (FST) and differential reinforcement of low rate -72s (DRL-72s). Alleviation of anhedonia was assessed in chronic mild stressmodel using sucrose preference test. To understand the mechanism of action, serotonin levels, ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were determined. The onset of antidepressant-like activity was determined using the reduction in submissive behavior assay. The effects on cognition and sexual functions were assessed using the object recognition task and sexual dysfunction assay respectively. Interaction of Ropanicant, TC-5214, and methyllycaconitine (MLA) with citalopram was investigated individually in mice FST. Ropanicant exhibited antidepressant like properties in the FST and DRL-72s. A significant reduction in anhedonia was observed in the sucrose preference test. Oral administration of Ropanicant produced a significant increase in serotonin and BDNF levels, with a reduction in the Iba1 activity. The onset of antidepressant like effect with Ropanicant was within a week of treatment, and was devoid of cognitive dulling and sexual dysfunction. While Ropanicant potentiated the effect of citalopram in FST, such an effect was not observed with MLA or TC-5214. Preclinical studies with Ropanicant support the likelihood of its therapeutic utility in the treatment of depressive disorders.

Aggressiveness and submissiveness in spotted hyaenas: one trait or two?

Aggressive and submissive behaviours are commonly assumed to represent two extremes of a single personality trait, often labelled ‘aggressiveness’. However, most studies focus exclusively on submissive behaviour elicited by conspecific aggression, and on rates at which aggressive and submissive behaviours are expressed, without considering either unprovoked submissive behaviour, or the intensity of the actions themselves. Utilizing a long-term data set spanning 27 years of dyadic agonistic interactions among spotted hyaenas, Crocuta crocuta , including counts and intensities of all unprovoked acts of aggressive and submissive behaviour, we assessed consistency within individuals in these behaviours. We found that counts of acts of both aggression and submission performed by adult female hyaenas varied with context, that neither measure was consistent within individuals over time and that both were strongly affected by social rank, suggesting that neither of these rate measures represent personality traits. Although rank influenced the intensity of submissive acts, intensity of aggressive acts did not vary with rank. Intensities of aggressive and submissive acts also varied with context, but both were consistent within individual females regardless of age, suggesting that both intensity measures may represent personality traits. We found no significant correlation between individual lifetime averages of intensities of aggressive and submissive behaviour, supporting the hypothesis that these may represent different traits rather than opposite ends of a single spectrum. Lifetime rates at which females performed acts of aggression and submission were uncorrelated with fitness, but analysis of the average intensity of aggressive or submissive acts performed by adult female hyaenas suggests that lifetime reproductive success may be lower at both ends of the spectrum of behavioural intensity than in its centre after controlling for rank, suggesting the action of stabilizing selection. • Hyaenas showed individual consistency in aggressive and submissive behaviours. • Aggressive/submissive personality traits were not correlated within individuals. • Individual fitness was loosely correlated with the intensity of such behavioural acts. • Rank significantly influenced the frequency of behavioural acts expressed. • Hyaenas showing very high or low agonistic intensity had lower offspring survival.

English

The aim of this study was to present the power of high school students' parents’ attitudes and submissive behaviors' in predicting social anxiety. The study group consisted of 298 students (159 female, 139 male) from two different high schools who were studying in the 2018-2019 academic year and voluntarily participated in the study. The study was carried out in accordance with the relational screening model. In this study, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA) was used to determine the social anxiety levels of the participants, while the Parenting Attitude Scale (PAS) and the Submissive Behaviors Scale (SBS) was used for determining the parents’ attitudes. Multiple regression analysis was applied to determine the power of secondary school students in predicting social anxiety levels. There was a medium level positive correlation found between high school students' total social anxiety scores and submissive behaviors.   Key words: Social anxiety predictors, parent attitudes, submissive behaviors, adolescents.

Self-invalidation in borderline personality disorder: A content analysis of patients’ verbalizations

Objective: The ability to trust one’s own perceptions is crucial for psychological well-being and growth. The relevance of its opposite, self-invalidation (SI), to the psychopathology of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is emphasized in many contemporary theories of evidence-based treatments for BPD. Empirical research on this topic remains scarce, however. This study aimed to describe manifestations of SI in individuals with BPD during a 40-session psychoeducational intervention based mainly on schema therapy. Method: Transcripts of videotaped group sessions were analyzed inductively using qualitative content analysis. Results: SI emerged as a recurrent, ubiquitous phenomenon. The content analysis yielded three core categories of SI: (1) a self-critical and harsh attitude towards the self (subcategories reflected punitive internalizations that could engender fear-based inertia, self-erasing, submissive coping behavior, and temporal fluctuation in SI), (2) a deficient sense of normalcy, and self-doubt, and (3) self-stigma. We also found an association of SI with various dimensions of BPD, including difficulty in the identification of emotions, secondary emotional reactions such as guilt, shame, anger, and resentment, self-related and interpersonal problems, and suicidal urges. Conclusions: SI is a detrimental cognitive-emotional process relevant to BPD that merits treatment. Efforts to reduce self-stigma, a pernicious aspect of SI, are imperative.

AMDnet: An Academic Misconduct Detection Method for Authors’ Behaviors

In recent years, academic misconduct has been frequently exposed by the media, with serious impacts on the academic community. Current research on academic misconduct focuses mainly on detecting plagiarism in article content through the application of character-based and non-text element detection techniques over the entirety of a manuscript. For the most part, these techniques can only detect cases of textual plagiarism, which means that potential culprits can easily avoid discovery through clever editing and alterations of text content. In this paper, we propose an academic misconduct detection method based on scholars’ submission behaviors. The model can effectively capture the atypical behavioral approach and operation of the author. As such, it is able to detect various types of misconduct, thereby improving the accuracy of detection when combined with a text content analysis. The model learns by forming a dual network group that processes text features and user behavior features to detect potential academic misconduct. First, the effect of scholars’ behavioral features on the model are considered and analyzed. Second, the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) is applied to address the problem of imbalanced samples of positive and negative classes among contributing scholars. Finally, the text features of the papers are combined with the scholars’ behavioral data to improve recognition precision. Experimental results on the imbalanced dataset demonstrate that our model has a highly satisfactory performance in terms of accuracy and recall.

The evaluation of the subjection of married women to domestic violence in terms of submissive behaviors in Turkey: A descriptive study.

This study aimed to evaluate the subjection of married women living in the center of a city in Turkey to domestic violence in terms of submissive behaviors. The study was descriptive and cross-sectional. The data were collected from married women (n = 7097) who volunteered to participate in the study and completed a survey form between September 2019 and February 2020. Submissive behavior scores were high in the women subjected to physical violence, based on many characteristics, and the difference between groups was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Nurses should be active participants in the diagnosis, treatment, care, and rehabilitation processes of women who have suffered from violence and should support them in improving their coping skills.

Childhood Traumatic Experiences, Early Maladaptive Schemas and Personality Dysfunctions in Shelter Home Residents

This study was designed to investigate childhood traumatic experiences, early maladaptive schemas and personality dysfunctions in shelter home residents. The main objective of this study was to explore the phenomenological experience of childhood traumatic experience, early maladaptive schemas and personality dysfunction in shelter home resident. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data. Sample comprised of five shelter home residents from Lahore, and Faisalabad. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews. On the bases of data obtained from structured interviews we used Deductive Thematic Analysis (DTA) to assess childhood traumatic experiences, early maladaptive schemas and personality dysfunctions. Total six super-ordinate themes were extracted from the responses of the participants by using DTA analysis. The main themes were abuse, rejection, loss, cognitive distortion, emotional disturbances and behavioral problems. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from abuse is physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and verbal abuse. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from rejection is parental rejection, social rejection, peer rejection, and romantic rejection. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from loss is financial loss, and loss of loved ones. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from distorted cognition is self-blame, suicidal ideation, obsession, infidelity, and paranoia. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from emotional disturbances is low mood, liable mood, fear, irritability, aggression, anxious, and hate. The sub-ordinate themes emerged from behavioral problems is verbal outburst, self-harm, avoidance, submissive behavior, approval seeking behavior and lying.

TAK-653, an AMPA receptor potentiator with minimal agonistic activity, produces an antidepressant-like effect with a favorable safety profile in rats

The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, ketamine, exhibits rapid and sustained antidepressant activity in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but its use is associated with psychotomimetic side effects. Evidence has suggested that the activation of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors followed by activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and production of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein may underlie the antidepressant efficacy of ketamine. In this study, we characterized the antidepressant-like effects of TAK-653, a novel AMPA receptor potentiator with virtually no agonistic activity. In rat primary cortical neurons, TAK-653 significantly increased phosphorylated and activated forms of mTOR and p70S6 kinase and their upstream regulators Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). TAK-653 also significantly increased BDNF protein levels in rat primary cortical neurons. Ketamine at 30 mg/kg, i.p. produced antidepressant-like effects in the reduction of submissive behavior model (RSBM) in rats. Ketamine's antidepressant-like effect was blocked by pretreatment with the AMPA receptor antagonist NBQX at 10 mg/kg, i.p., indicating the essential role of AMPA receptor activation in the antidepressant-like effect of ketamine. Consistent with this finding, a sub-chronic administration of TAK-653 for 6 days produced significant antidepressant-like effect in the rat RSBM. Unlike ketamine, however, TAK-653 did not induce a hyperlocomotor response in rats, which is a behavioral index associated with psychotomimetic side effects in humans. TAK-653 may be a promising drug for the treatment of major depressive disorders including TRD with the potential for an improved safety profile compared with ketamine.

Dominant and submissive behaviour in the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus under semi-natural conditions

Dominant and submissive behaviour in the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus under semi-natural conditions

Влияние глипролинов на уровень сывороточных каспаз в условиях «социального» стресса

Objective. To investigate the effect of glyprolines on the levels of initiating and effector caspases in the serum of white rats under "social" stress. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on 90 white male rats of 6 months of age. All manipulations with animals were carried out in accordance with international and domestic requirements for working with laboratory animals. When modeling "social" stress, groups of animals with aggressive and submissive behavior were formed. Laboratory animals, taking into account the types of behavior, were divided into groups (n=10): a group of intact males (control); a group of animals exposed to" social " stress for 20 days (stress); groups of individuals who received intraperitoneal Selank (Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro), Pro-Gly-Pro, Pro-Gly-Pro-Leu at doses of 100 mcg/kg / day from the 1st day of stress exposure within a 20- day course. The effect of neuropeptides on the activity of apoptosis processes was evaluated by determining the level of initiating and effector caspases (caspase-8 and caspase-3) (ELISA Kit for Caspase-8 and ELISA Kit for Caspase-3; USA) in the blood serum of white rats by enzyme immunoassay. Results. According to the results of the study, it was found that under conditions of "social" stress, an increase in apoptotic processes was observed, accompanied by an increase in the level of caspase-3 and caspase-8 in the blood serum of white rats. The introduction of the studied compounds against the background of stress contributed to a decrease in the level of the studied indicators, which is most likely due to the presence of antiapoptotic action in glyprolins due to inhibition of the caspase-dependent cascade of apoptosis reactions, as a result of which the destruction of cellular structures occurs by hydrolysis of nuclear lamina, cleavage of adhesive proteins, destruction of the cytoskeleton. Conclusion. Thus, the conducted study established the presence of Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro (Selank), Pro-Gly-Pro and Pro-Gly-Pro-Leu under conditions of stress-induced antiapoptotic activity due to inhibition of the caspase-dependent cascade of apoptosis reactions.

Evaluating ultrasonic vocalizations as predictors of social behavior during group interaction

During social interaction, animals integrate sensory information—including auditory cues—to influence future behavioral decisions. For example, animals respond to distinct vocalizations with unique actions (Seyfarth et al., 1980). Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) associated with discrete behaviors (Sangiamo et al., 2020); however, it is unclear if USVs inform subsequent actions. To investigate the predictive power of USVs on behavior, while mice freely interacted (n = 11 groups, 2 males and 2 females per group), we continuously recorded video and audio data using a sound source localization system with an 8-channel microphone array to accurately assign vocalizations to individuals. Using machine learning-based approaches to categorize vocalizations based on acoustic properties and extract behaviors in which two mice play unique roles (actor or recipient), we found a significant interaction between particular social behaviors and preceding vocalizations. A permutation test indicated that, depending on the behavioral role of the vocalizer, specific vocalizations preceded dominant (courtship or aggressive) or submissive (avoidant) behaviors at above-chance levels. Additionally, though classifiers trained to distinguish behavioral role based on preceding vocal emission failed for some behaviors, they were successful for particular dominant behaviors. These results suggest a potentially predictive relationship between acoustic communication and subsequent behaviors.