The vertebrate social behavior network: Evolutionary themes and variations

Social behavior functions and related anatomical characteristics of vasotocin/vasopressin systems in vertebrates.

Animals evaluate and respond to their social environment with adaptive decisions. Revealing the neural mechanisms of such decisions is a major goal in biology. We analyzed expression profiles for 10 neurochemical genes across 12 brain regions important for decision-making in 88 species representing five vertebrate lineages. We found that behaviorally relevant brain regions are remarkably conserved over 450 million years of evolution. We also find evidence that different brain regions have experienced different selection pressures, because spatial distribution of neuroendocrine ligands are more flexible than their receptors across vertebrates. Our analysis suggests that the diversity of social behavior in vertebrates can be explained, in part, by variations on a theme of conserved neural and gene expression networks.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/336/6085/1154.full.pdf

Evolution of a vertebrate social decision-making network

Neurosteroid biosynthesis: enzymatic pathways and neuroendocrine regulation by neurotransmitters and neuropeptides.

Sexual differentiation of central vasopressin and vasotocin systems in vertebrates: different mechanisms, similar endpoints.

Immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques were used to investigate the neuroanatomical distribution of arginine vasotocin-like systems in the roughskin newt (Taricha granulosa). Vasotocin-like-immunoreactive neuronal cell bodies were identified that, based on topographical position, most likely, are homologous to groups of vasopressin-immunoreactive neuronal cell bodies described in mammals, including those in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial amygdala, basal septal region, magnocellular basal forebrain-including the horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca, paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei, suprachiasmatic nucleus, and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus. Several additional vasotocin-like-immunoreactive cell groups were observed in the forebrain and brainstem regions; these observations are compared with previous studies of vasotocin- and vasopressin-like systems in vertebrates. Arginine vasotocin-like-immunoreactive fibers and presumed terminals also were widely distributed with high densities in the basal limbic forebrain, the ventral preoptic and hypothalamic regions, and the brainstem ventromedial tegmentum. Based on in situ hybridization studies with synthetic oligonucleotide probes for vasotocin and the related neuropeptide mesotocin, as well as double-labeling studies with combined immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, we conclude that the vasotocin immunohistochemical procedures used identify vasotocin-like, but not mesotocin-like, elements in the brain of T. granulosa. The distribution of arginine vasotocin-like systems in T. granulosa is greater than the distribution previously reported for any other single vertebrate species; however, it is consistent with an emerging pattern of distribution of vasotocin- and vasopressin-like peptides in vertebrates. Complexity in the vasotocinergic system adds further support to the conclusion that this peptide regulates multiple neurophysiological and neuroendocrinological functions.

Neuroanatomical distribution of vasotocin in a urodele amphibian (Taricha granulosa) revealed by immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques.

Daily injections of neurotransmitter‐affecting drugs induced spring migratory and reproductive conditions in white‐throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis, during the fall. Injections of DOPA (catecholamine precursor) 12 h after 5‐HTP (serotonin precursor) was most stimulatory for development of spring conditions. Summer and fall conditions followed during subsequent months in a manner similar to the natural sequence. Changes in the temporal relations of circadian neural activities may account for seasonal alterations of metabolism and behavior.

Circadian neurotransmitter activity resets the endogenous annual cycle in a migratory sparrow

Daily injections of corticosterone and prolactin have been shown previously to either stimulate or inhibit reproductive and migratory indices in sparrows as a function of the time interval between injection times (Meier and Ferrell, 1978). The present studies were performed to test whether the hormonal effects can be duplicated by timed injections of drugs which influence brain neurotransmitter activities in a manner similar to that of the hormones. DOPA (catecholamine precursor) injections at 12 h after daily injections of 5‐HTP (serotonin precursor) was stimulatory for gonadal growth and body fat stores in white‐throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) whereas other time relations (3, 8, or 18 h intervals between daily injections of 5‐HTP and DOPA) were not. The 8‐h relation was inhibitory for fat stores and reproductive indices. In house sparrows (Passer domesticus), DOPA injections 16 h after daily injections of 5‐HTP reduced the sizes of photoperiodically‐stimulated oviducts whereas an 8‐h...

Larry J. Miller

Papers

Neuroanatomical distribution of vasotocin in a urodele amphibian (Taricha granulosa) revealed by immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques.

Circadian neurotransmitter activity resets the endogenous annual cycle in a migratory sparrow

Temporal synergism of neurotransmitter-affecting drugs influences seasonal conditions in sparrows

Serotoninergic activity stimulates melanin dispersion within dermal melanophores of newts.