2001 — 2003 |
Riters, Lauren V |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Neuroendocrine Control of Reproductive Behavior @ University of Wisconsin Madison
DESCRIPTION (applicant?s abstract): Environmental factors, hormones, and the brain interact to produce complex social behaviors, including those important for reproduction. The goal of the present series of studies, submitted by a new investigator, is to elucidate basic relationships between hormones and brain areas regulating sexual arousal and those important for the expression of behaviors reflecting sexual arousal. Songbirds provide an excellent model system for understanding this relationship. Song learning, production, and perception are known to be regulated by a specific group of sex steroid binding nuclei, known as "the song system"; however, little is known about brain areas regulating the motivation to sing. During the breeding season, song in male starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) is observed prior to pair formation and copulation and likely reflects male sexual arousal. The medial preoptic area (POM) is known in other species to be critical for the expression of male sexual arousal, and lesions to this nucleus disrupt singing and other courtship behaviors in male starlings, suggesting that the POM might regulate the motivation to sing within breeding context. The present proposal consists of four studies designed to understand the relationship between brain areas devoted exclusively to male song and the POM: 1) An anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tract tracing study aimed to determine neuroanatomical connections between the song system and the POM, 2) a POM lesion study comparing the effects of POM lesions on song sung within and outside of the breeding season, 3) an implant study in which an aromatase inhibitor will be implanted directly into the POM of castrated, testosterone treated male starlings to determine whether aromatase activity in the POM is critical for song sung in the breeding season, and 4) an investigation of the expression of the immediate early gene products of c-Fos and ZENK to explore further POM regulation of song in response to male or female stimulus birds presented during or outside of the breeding season. This work will define the role of the POM in male song and sexual behavior, could add another dimension to the current understanding of the neuroendocrine regulation of male song, and will serve to link two currently separate fields of research (research on birdsong and research on male sexual motivation), steps that are necessary to elucidate how the brain regulates complex social behaviors. In addition, this research could lay the groundwork for future studies on the etiology of disorders related to sexual arousal.
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2007 — 2011 |
Riters, Lauren |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Catecholamine Activity and Female Responses to Mate Cues @ University of Wisconsin-Madison
Successful reproduction requires an animal to coordinate its physiological state with behavioral cues provided by potential mates. The present proposal will provide new insight into how the brain controls appropriate behavioral responses to specific social cues by exploring female responses to male courtship song in a songbird model system. Female mate choice decisions have been intensively studied by evolutionary biologists, behavioral ecologists, and ethologists, but little is known about how the brain controls this crucial social behavior. Female songbirds use attributes of male song to select mates. Female responses to male courtship song likely involve interactions between brain regions responding to song and those regulating social behavior. Neurochemicals, including norepinephrine and dopamine, regulate behaviors critical for mate choice such as arousal, attention, and approach behaviors and are likely involved in activating and integrating networks of brain regions involved in female responses to mate cues. Pharmacological manipulations of norepinephrine and dopamine and measures of behavior and other neural attributes will provide insight into how these neurochemicals regulate female preferences for specific male songs. This project will identify basic mechanisms regulating responses to mate cues and promote the understanding of how hormones and the brain control the perception of social cues, appropriate behavioral responding, and reproductive behavior. These studies link two currently disparate fields of research (research on song processing and social motivation), a step that is necessary to understand how the brain regulates complex social behaviors. In addition, this research provides broad training experience for students spanning the disciplines of animal behavior and behavioral neuroendocrinology. This project will offer unique research opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, and will promote training of under-represented minorities.
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0.915 |
2008 — 2012 |
Riters, Lauren V |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Dopamine and Individual Differences in Social Communication @ University of Wisconsin Madison
[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Appropriate communication is at the heart of successful, healthy social interactions in humans. Deficits in social communication are a hallmark of several mental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders. Such disorders are characterized by extreme individual variability in the motivation to communicate, and in the ability to engage in socially appropriate communication, yet very little research has been devoted to understanding the neural bases of these issues. Songbirds provide an ideal model system in which to study brain mechanisms regulating appropriate social communication. In our model species we find the brain to differentially regulate communication in a context in which song is directed towards a female (goal-directed) versus song observed in large social groups (group-motivated). In past studies we find that some individuals communicate at high levels and others not at all. Associated with individual differences in communication are differences in activity within brain regions involved in motivation and reward. We have been able to motivate birds to communicate through pharmacological manipulations of dopamine receptors, suggesting dopamine as a candidate neurotransmitter system involved in stimulating communication in individuals that are not highly motivated to communicate. The experiments proposed here test the hypothesis that individual differences in context-appropriate communication are dependent upon dopamine activity within neural systems involved in motivation and reward. To test this hypothesis we will examine the effects of site-specific dopamine lesions (Aim 1) and site-specific dopamine receptor subtype manipulations (Aim 2) on communication within goal- directed and socially-motivated contexts in low- and high-communicating individuals. Neural circuits influenced by these manipulations will be examined after behavioral testing through examinations of markers of neuronal activity and other neurochemical markers. Comparisons will then be made of multiple dopaminergic markers in low- and high-communicators in both contexts to identify differences in the brain associated with natural individual variation in context-appropriate communication (Aim 3). The proposed research will identify manipulations that stimulate context-appropriate social interactions, which can be used in the design of clinical interventions in humans with deficits in the motivation to communicate. The proposed studies span from neurons, to neural circuits, to complex social behavior, integrate what is known about motivation with studies on communication, examine the influence of environment and social context on individuals displaying natural variation in behavior, and will provide treatment ideas for individuals with psychiatric disease. Deficits in social communication are a hallmark of several mental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders. Such disorders are characterized by extreme individual variability in the motivation to communicate, and in the ability to engage in socially appropriate communication. The proposed research will identify manipulations that stimulate context-appropriate social interactions, which can be used in the design of clinical interventions in humans with deficits in the motivation to communicate. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]
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2013 — 2017 |
Riters, Lauren V |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Opioids and Individual Differences in Social Communication @ University of Wisconsin-Madison
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social communication is at the heart of successful, healthy social interactions in humans. Social communication deficits are characteristic of several mental health disorders, including anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorders. Dysfunction in reward neural systems, including opioid neural systems, has been pro- posed to contribute to social communication deficits characteristic of these disorders, yet little research has focused on the role of reward neural systems in social communication. Furthermore, it is not clear why communication deficits associated with these disorders are observed in some but not other social contexts. One possibility supported by pilot data in a songbird model system is that communication in distinct social contexts is rewarded by distinct mechanisms. The long-term goal of the principal investigator is to identify the neurochemical mechanisms responsible for communication produced in distinct social contexts. The objective of this application is to identif the role of reward and opioid neuropeptides in the medial preoptic nucleus (mPOA) in communication in distinct social contexts. The mPOA regulates affiliative social behavior and communication, and opioid release in mPOA induces reward. In a songbird model, sexually-motivated communication (SMC) can result in immediate external reward (e.g., courtship song results in copulation). In contrast, general social communication (GSC) occurs in social groups in a non-sexual, affiliative context and does not result in immediate overt reward (e.g., copulation), suggesting GSC is linked to intrinsic reward. The central hypothesis sup- ported by strong preliminary data is that GSC is stimulated and maintained by an individual's intrinsic reward state induced by opioid release in mPOA. In contrast, SMC may be reinforced primarily by conspecific responses to song. Four specific aims based on strong pilot data in a songbird model system are proposed 1) to determine the extent to which opioid markers in mPOA relate to individual differences in GSC and SMC using Western immunoblots and quantitative real time PCR in starlings singing in distinct social contexts; 2) to determine the extent to which opioid markers in mPOA relate to intrinsic reward associated with GSC and SMC using conditioned place preference, a standard measure of reward; 3) to determine the extent to which opioids stimulate GSC and SMC using site-specific opioid pharmacological manipulations in mPOA; 4) to determine the extent to which opioid antagonists disrupt the link between reward and GSC by examining effects of opioid pharmacological manipulations in mPOA on song-associated reward measured using conditioned place preference. Results will elucidate links between opioids, reward, and communication produced within distinct social contexts. The research is innovative and significant because it will provide novel insight into neural mechanisms underlying the motivation to communicate and ways in which distinct reward mechanisms function to shape socially-appropriate behavioral interactions. Findings will reveal mechanisms that facilitate communication in select social contexts.
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1 |
2019 — 2021 |
Riters, Lauren V |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Mechanisms Underlying Intrinsically Rewarded Social Behaviors @ University of Wisconsin-Madison
In cases of depression, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorders, social interactions that are typically rewarding can be aversive. Deficits can also be context-specific. For example, some individuals with autism are able to make directed requests (e.g., for food) that can be extrinsically reinforced (e.g., by receipt of food) but exhibit profound deficits in affiliative communication (e.g., nonsexual, chitchat) that promotes social bonds and is rewarding but does not result in an immediate, obvious extrinsic reinforcer. Many studies identify roles for dopamine and opioids in motivation and reward involved in directed, extrinsically-rewarded behaviors (e.g., food-, mate- or drug-directed); however, these mechanisms appear to differ from those underlying affiliative communication, leaving a critical gap in basic knowledge about intrinsic reward mechanisms underlying affiliative social behaviors. The objectives of this proposal are to identify mechanisms by which opioids act in the medial preoptic nucleus (mPOA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) to initiate, maintain, and reward affiliative communication using the unique communication properties of a songbird experimental system. Neural systems underlying important behaviors are usually highly conserved across species, thus studies in songbirds are expected to uncover a core, conserved circuit in which opioids act to initiate, reward, and maintain important social behaviors in contexts for which there is no obvious extrinsic reward, across vertebrates. The central hypothesis is that opioids act at mu opioid receptors (MOR) in the mPOA?VTA?NAc circuit to initiate, facilitate, and reward affiliative social behaviors. The rationale is the need for basic, mechanistic information on core social circuits that underlie behaviors disrupted by mental illness. Based on preliminary data, three specific aims are proposed: 1) Dissociate the functional roles of MOR in mPOA and NAc on affiliative singing behavior; 2) Determine effects of MOR gene knockdown in mPOA and NAc on affiliative song-associated reward; 3) Determine how environmental factors modulate affiliative song via MOR. In Aim 1 dual-cannula microinfusions of MOR agonists and antagonists into mPOA and NAc will be used to identify distinct roles played by MOR in mPOA and NAc in initiating and maintaining affiliative singing behavior. In Aim 2 siRNA targeting MOR in mPOA and NAc will be used to examine the role of MOR in song-associated reward measured using conditioned place preference tests. In Aim 3 environmental and site-specific pharmacological manipulations will be used to examine the impact of environmental stressors on MOR modulation of affiliative song. The approach is innovative because it advances the understanding of intrinsically-rewarded social behavior in songbirds with the goal of identifying core affiliative circuits. The proposal is significant because it will elucidate the role of MOR and reward in non-sexual, affiliative social behaviors and provide insight into core neural circuits that may be disrupted by mental illness in humans.
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