ArticleHormones and behavior2016
Central oxytocin receptors mediate mating-induced partner preferences and enhance correlated activation across forebrain nuclei in male prairie voles.
Article in Hormones and behavior, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social attachment shapes interbrain synchrony.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Advancing insights into the neuroendocrine basis of socio-sexual interactions in mammals.Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Increased c-Fos expression in lateral habenula during social transmission of negative valence in prairie voles.Molecular autism · 2026Article
- The expression of father-daughter bond behaviors influences adult partner attachment in titi monkeys.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Oxytocin receptors mediate social selectivity in prairie vole peer relationships.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Oxytocin and opioid antagonists: A dual approach to improving social behavior.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- An oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism is associated with distinct neural responses to mating encounters in male prairie voles.Hormones and behavior · 2025Article
- PVN-NAc Shell-VP Circuit OT and OTR Neurons Regulate Pair Bonding via D2R and D1R.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neural connectivity of oxytocin receptor-expressing neurons in the nucleus accumbens and their role in social attachment.Hormones and behavior · 2025Article
- Pair bond quality influences social conditioned place preference expression, passive coping behavior, and central oxytocin receptor expression following partner loss in male prairie voles.Social neuroscience · 2024Article
- Effects of oxytocin receptor agonism on acquisition and expression of pair bonding in male prairie voles.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Effects of Oxytocin Receptor Agonism on Acquisition and Expression of Pair Bonding in Male Prairie Voles.Research square · 2024Article
- Prairie voles as a model for adaptive reward remodeling following loss of a bonded partner.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2024Review
- Melanocortin agonism in a social context selectively activates nucleus accumbens in an oxytocin-dependent manner.Neuropharmacology · 2024Article
- Detection, processing and reinforcement of social cues: regulation by the oxytocin system.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Oxytocin antagonist does not disrupt rabbit maternal behavior despite binding to brain oxytocin receptors.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Male-selective effects of oxytocin agonism on alcohol intake: behavioral assessment in socially housed prairie voles and involvement of RAGE.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Is oxytocin receptor signaling really dispensable for social attachment?Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Partner separation rescues pair bond-induced decreases in hypothalamic oxytocin neural densities.Scientific reports · 2023Article
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19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) is a deeply conserved nonapeptide that acts both peripherally and centrally to modulate reproductive physiology and sociosexual behavior across divergent taxa, including humans. In vertebrates, the distribution of the oxytocin receptor (OTR) in the brain is variable within and across species, and OTR signaling is critical for a variety of species-typical social and reproductive behaviors, including affiliative and pair bonding behaviors in multiple socially monogamous lineages of fishes, birds, and mammals. Early work in prairie voles suggested that the endogenous OT system modulates mating-induced partner preference formation in females but not males; however, there is significant evidence that central OTRs may modulate pair bonding behavior in both sexes. In addition, it remains unclear how transient windows of central OTR signaling during sociosexual interaction modulate neural activity to produce enduring shifts in sociobehavioral phenotypes, including the formation of selective social bonds. Here we re-examine the role of the central OT system in partner preference formation in male prairie voles using a selective OTR antagonist delivered intracranially. We then use the same antagonist to examine how central OTRs modulate behavior and immediate early gene (Fos) expression, a metric of neuronal activation, in males during brief sociosexual interaction with a female. Our results suggest that, as in females, OTR signaling is critical for partner preference formation in males and enhances correlated activation across sensory and reward processing brain areas during sociosexual interaction. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that central OTR signaling facilitates social bond formation by coordinating activity across a pair bonding neural network.
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