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Voluntary Exercise Facilitates Pair-Bonding in Male Prairie Voles
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated in exercise, as well as monogamy and parental behavior. In this study, we compared behavioral and neuroendocrine effects of access to an exercise wheel versus the sedentary state typical in lab animal housing. Male prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) were studied because of their extensive repertoire of social behaviors including pair bond formation and biparental care, which are influenced by oxytocin and vasopressin. Subjects in one group had access to a running wheel in their cage (Wheel), and voluntarily ran approximately 1.5 km/day for six weeks; these animals were compared to males in standard housing conditions (n = 10 / group). Males allowed to exercise formed partner preferences significantly faster than controls and exhibited fewer oxytocin neurons, as measured by immunohistochemistry in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. We observed no differences in terms of anxiety-related behavior, or alloparental responsiveness. Males with a running wheel equipped cage gained more total body weight, and by the end of the six weeks were found to have less subcutaneous fat and larger testes as a percentage of bodyweight. The changes to gonadal regulation and pair-bonding behavior associated with voluntary exercise are discussed in terms of their possible relevance to the natural history of this species.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Vasopressin
Vasopressins
Subcutaneous Fat
Neuropeptide
Motor Activity
Oxytocin
Article
03 medical and health sciences
Behavioral Neuroscience
0302 clinical medicine
Internal medicine
Physical Conditioning, Animal
Testis
medicine
Animals
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology
Microtus
Neurons
Pair Bond
biology
Arvicolinae
05 social sciences
Body Weight
Septal nuclei
biology.organism_classification
Pair bond
Prairie vole
Stria terminalis
medicine.anatomical_structure
Endocrinology
Septal Nuclei
Psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bea13225c7f82f6bcb53f8506070d7dd