https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/pdf/S0166-2236(12)00152-X.pdf

Balance of brain oxytocin and vasopressin: implications for anxiety, depression, and social behaviors

The many facets of the oxytocin (OXT) system of the brain and periphery elicited nearly 25,000 publications since 1930 (see FIGURE 1, as listed in PubMed), which revealed central roles for OXT and ...

/pdf/the-oxytocin-receptor-from-intracellular-signaling-to-3woxj4pz9l.pdf

The Oxytocin Receptor: From Intracellular Signaling to Behavior

An exciting area in behavioural ecology focuses on understanding why animals exhibit consistent among-individual differences in behaviour (animal personalities). Animal personality has been proposed to emerge as an adaptation to individual differences in state variables, leading to the question of why individuals differ consistently in state. Recent theory emphasizes the role that positive feedbacks between state and behaviour can play in producing consistent among-individual covariance between state and behaviour, hence state-dependent personality. We review the role of feedbacks in recent models of adaptive personalities, and provide guidelines for empirical testing of model assumptions and predictions. We discuss the importance of the mediating effects of ecology on these feedbacks, and provide a roadmap for including state–behaviour feedbacks in behavioural ecology research.

/pdf/animal-personality-and-state-behaviour-feedbacks-a-review-1co1w6nerk.pdf

Animal personality and state–behaviour feedbacks: a review and guide for empiricists

Early-life stress can contribute to predispositions to antisocial behaviour in adulthood. Similarly, acute or chronic stress during adulthood can alter our social behaviour. Sandi and Haller emphasize the importance of timing of stress for its effects on social behaviour and describe current understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

/pdf/stress-and-the-social-brain-behavioural-effects-and-15fusa6nqi.pdf

Stress and the social brain: behavioural effects and neurobiological mechanisms

Vasopressin and oxytocin receptor systems in the brain: Sex differences and sex-specific regulation of social behavior.

The Neuropeptide Oxytocin Facilitates Pro-Social Behavior and Prevents Social Avoidance in Rats and Mice

Social fear and avoidance of social situations represent the main behavioral symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD), a highly prevalent anxiety disorder that is poorly elucidated and has rather unsatisfactory therapeutic options. Therefore, animal models are needed to study the underlying etiology and pathophysiology of SAD and to verify the efficacy of possible novel treatment approaches. In this review, we describe and discuss the most important paradigms that have been shown to induce social avoidance and fear in rodents, including foot shock exposure, restraint stress, social isolation, social instability, social defeat, conditioned defeat, social defeat/overcrowding, chronic subordinate colony housing, chronic mild stress, maternal separation and social fear conditioning. We also describe some of the behavioral paradigms used to assess social avoidance and fear in rodents, including the social interaction test, the social preference-avoidance test, the social approach-avoidance test, the three-chambered social approach test, the partition test and the modified Y-maze test. We focus on the behavioral alterations these paradigms induce, especially on social interaction, general anxiety and depressive-like behavior given that SAD is strongly comorbid with anxiety and affective disorders.

Animal models of social avoidance and social fear.

Oxytocin mediates rodent social memory within the lateral septum and the medial amygdala depending on the relevance of the social stimulus: male juvenile versus female adult conspecifics

Rationale
Oxytocin (OXT) has been proposed as a potential therapeutic agent for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Iulia Toth

Papers

The Neuropeptide Oxytocin Facilitates Pro-Social Behavior and Prevents Social Avoidance in Rats and Mice

Animal models of social avoidance and social fear.

Oxytocin mediates rodent social memory within the lateral septum and the medial amygdala depending on the relevance of the social stimulus: male juvenile versus female adult conspecifics

Central administration of oxytocin receptor ligands affects cued fear extinction in rats and mice in a timepoint-dependent manner

Social Fear Conditioning: A Novel and Specific Animal Model to Study Social Anxiety Disorder