Oxytocin-dopamine interactions in the reinforcement of selective peer relationships

About This Grant

Project Summary Social behavior in humans encompasses various close relationships, ranging from parental and romantic relationships to friendships, i.e. ‘peer relationships’. A common feature of these relationships is selectivity—the preference to spend time with a bonded individual over a stranger. These social bonds are integral to health and well-being, but the neural mechanisms underlying peer relationships remain poorly understood compared to reproductive attachments. This is a critical gap in knowledge, as difficulties in forming or maintaining peer relationships are associated with multiple psychiatric conditions. A mechanistic understanding of peer bond formation may therefore provide foundational insights for targeted therapeutic development. Foundational research in prairie voles—socially monogamous rodents that form stable, selective mate and peer relationships—has identified oxytocin and dopamine as key neuromodulators of social attachment. While much of this work has focused on mate bonds, the proposed project will leverage novel genetic tools and in vivo imaging approaches to dissect how oxytocin and dopamine signaling interact to reinforce selective peer attachment. The central hypothesis is that oxytocin signaling supports peer relationships by shaping dopamine- mediated reward signaling to reinforce partner affiliation and effectively encode peer social selectivity. This project will pursue two specific aims: (1) determine how a global oxytocin receptor null mutation influences real-time dopamine dynamics, and (2) identify the region-specific role of oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area in modulating reward circuitry and facilitating peer partner attachment. These experiments will provide a mechanistic framework for understanding how neuromodulatory interactions support peer bond formation in prairie voles. By focusing on a natural model of peer social attachment and integrating behavioral assays with neural imaging and site-specific viral manipulations, this project takes a novel approach to studying the neural basis of peer bonds. These research findings will broaden our understanding of social attachment beyond a reproductive context and inform models of social dysfunction in neuropsychiatric conditions. In parallel, the project will provide the applicant with rigorous training in neuroscience techniques—including genetic manipulation, and ex vivo and in vivo imaging coupled to complex behavioral phenotyping, establishing a strong foundation for an academic career investigating the neural basis of complex natural behaviors.