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Arginine vasopressin in brains of free ranging striped mouse males following alternative reproductive tactics

Schoepf, Ivana ; Kenkel, Wiliam ; Schradin, Carsten

In: Journal of Ethology, 2015, vol. 33, no. 3, p. 235-242

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    Titre
    • Arginine vasopressin in brains of free ranging striped mouse males following alternative reproductive tactics
    Auteur
    • Schoepf, Ivana. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
    • Kenkel, Wiliam. The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, 47401, Bloomington, IN, USA
    • Schradin, Carsten. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:332588
    Summary
    Oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are produced in the brain. Due to their importance in modulating social behaviour, these two neuropepetides have been extensively studied in captivity, yet few data are available from the field. Here we report the findings from an immunohistochemistry study, where we measured density of OT and AVP in different brain nuclei of wild African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio). Striped mice are socially flexible with both sexes being able to follow alternative reproductive tactics. Adult males can remain natally philopatric, or they can disperse and live solitarily as roamers or immigrate into a group and become breeders. Previous studies in captivity found no differences between solitary and group-living striped mice in AVPR1a expression, but solitary males had higher irAVP concentrations in the paraventricular nucleus and BNST. In the present study we tested whether the results obtained from captive studies could be replicated in the wild. We collected brains from 5 breeders, 9 philopatrics, and 3 roamers from a field site in South Africa and transported them to the USA for immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that roamers have higher irAVP concentrations in the BNST than philopatrics, which leads us to predict for future experimental studies that roamers will be able to increase AVP secretion in the brain when becoming group-living.