Class
Article
College
College of Science
Department
Biology Department
Faculty Mentor
Sara Freeman
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
Complicated grief is a severe mental health disorder that can have detrimental effects on individuals who have lost a loved one. Understanding the biological underpinnings of grief is essential in being able to help develop effective treatments and therapies. Oxytocin is heavily implicated in studies about grief and pairmate loss due to its importance in modulating social behavior such as pair bond formation. Previous research has primarily focused on rodents and non-human primates as model organisms of social attachment and studies have shown that monogamous prairie voles showed a decrease in oxytocin receptor (OXTR) binding in the nucleus accumbens after removal of their pairmate. The goal of this study is to use coyotes as a model organism for grief to investigate the effect of partner loss on OXTR binding. Coyotes are unique in the context of behavioral neurobiology because they exhibit social, sexual, and genetic monogamy, which is rare in mammals. We used six coyote brain specimens, 3 widowed females and 3 paired females that were opportunistically procured from the USDA’s Predator Research Facility in Millville, Utah. Within 2-3 hours postmortem, brains were removed, blocked into hemispheres, flash frozen on dry ice,and stored at -80°C until slicing. The specimens were sectioned at -15°C to 20 µm thickness on a cryostat and mounted to glass slides. The slides then went through receptor autoradiography according to methods that have already been well established for visualizing OXTR. Previous research by an undergraduate in the Freeman Lab showed restricted variance in OXTR binding in the lateral septum and nucleus accumbens, suggesting neuroplasticity after partner loss. We focused this study on more posterior brain structures, especially those that have shown high OXTR levels in monogamous prairie voles and non-human primates such as the hippocampus, superior colliculus, and the periaqueductal gray. Our results showed a trend toward decreased OXTR binding in widowed coyotes compared to paired coyotes, particularly in the CA3, DG, and CA1/2 subregions of the hippocampus. These findings suggest that partner loss may result in decreased oxytocin signaling in the learning and memory circuits of the mammalian brain, potentially contributing to the negative psychological and physiological consequences of social loss. However, due to the small sample size, further research is necessary to fully understand the implications of partner loss on OXTR binding in coyotes.
Start Date
4-11-2023 1:30 PM
End Date
4-11-2023 2:30 PM
Included in
The Grieving Brain: Effect of Pairmate Loss on Coyote Oxytocin Receptor Densities
Complicated grief is a severe mental health disorder that can have detrimental effects on individuals who have lost a loved one. Understanding the biological underpinnings of grief is essential in being able to help develop effective treatments and therapies. Oxytocin is heavily implicated in studies about grief and pairmate loss due to its importance in modulating social behavior such as pair bond formation. Previous research has primarily focused on rodents and non-human primates as model organisms of social attachment and studies have shown that monogamous prairie voles showed a decrease in oxytocin receptor (OXTR) binding in the nucleus accumbens after removal of their pairmate. The goal of this study is to use coyotes as a model organism for grief to investigate the effect of partner loss on OXTR binding. Coyotes are unique in the context of behavioral neurobiology because they exhibit social, sexual, and genetic monogamy, which is rare in mammals. We used six coyote brain specimens, 3 widowed females and 3 paired females that were opportunistically procured from the USDA’s Predator Research Facility in Millville, Utah. Within 2-3 hours postmortem, brains were removed, blocked into hemispheres, flash frozen on dry ice,and stored at -80°C until slicing. The specimens were sectioned at -15°C to 20 µm thickness on a cryostat and mounted to glass slides. The slides then went through receptor autoradiography according to methods that have already been well established for visualizing OXTR. Previous research by an undergraduate in the Freeman Lab showed restricted variance in OXTR binding in the lateral septum and nucleus accumbens, suggesting neuroplasticity after partner loss. We focused this study on more posterior brain structures, especially those that have shown high OXTR levels in monogamous prairie voles and non-human primates such as the hippocampus, superior colliculus, and the periaqueductal gray. Our results showed a trend toward decreased OXTR binding in widowed coyotes compared to paired coyotes, particularly in the CA3, DG, and CA1/2 subregions of the hippocampus. These findings suggest that partner loss may result in decreased oxytocin signaling in the learning and memory circuits of the mammalian brain, potentially contributing to the negative psychological and physiological consequences of social loss. However, due to the small sample size, further research is necessary to fully understand the implications of partner loss on OXTR binding in coyotes.