Sentences with phrase «for prairie voles»
The same is true for prairie voles, one of the few mammals that form long - term monogamous pairs.
https://www.newscientist.com/ Not exact matches
«Her research established how the biological basis of monogamy should be analyzed, and established the prairie vole as the major model for examining the biology of adult social bonds.»
Research on prairie voles suggests that it's possible to predict which voles will exhibit pair - bonding behavior just by looking for those expressing the gene for AVPR1a, a specific vasopressin receptor.
In a study published last fall, researchers showed that male prairie voles that had been separated from their female partners for four days — a much shorter amount of separation time than researchers had previously found to affect the voles» physiology — exhibited depressionlike behavior and had increased levels of corticosterone, the rodent equivalent of the human stress hormone cortisol.
As a result, when prairie voles are separated from their partners even for a short time, they experience withdrawal - like symptoms, says Larry Young, a behavioral neuroscientist at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center and co-author of the study.
«Our results in prairie voles have identified a biological mechanism that could explain the link between discordant drinking and relationship breakdown, but we will need to do further work to confirm this for humans,» says Ryabinin.
«Some prairie vole brains are better wired for sexual fidelity.»
PAIR - BOND Just 24 hours in each other's company without mating can be enough to bond a pair of prairie voles for life.
This pattern is true for two species of vole, the monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) and its promiscuous cousin, the meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus).
The dramatic proof came in an experiment in which the researchers were able to make a mouse more caring for females by giving it the vasopressin receptor gene from the prairie vole, well known for being faithful and social.
Robert Liu at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and his colleagues chose to study pair - bonding in prairie voles because this species is one of the few to mate for life.
For example, Young's research shows normally monogamous prairie voles do not develop pair bonds with their mates if their mu - opioid system is blocked; other studies have found that mice genetically engineered to have no mu - opioid receptors do not prefer their mothers to other mice the way normal baby mice do.
Their lives may be short — they're an easy snack for hawks and snakes — but once two prairie voles mate, they are bonded until the end.
Activation of μ - opioid receptors in the dorsal striatum is necessary for adult social attachment in monogamous prairie voles.
The hamster - sized prairie vole is unusual among mammals for its tendency to pair off in long - term, monogamous relationships, and when a prairie vole couple has babies, they care for them together.
For example, the overexpression of the V1aR in the ventral pallidum results in a strong partner preference formation in male prairie voles even in the absence of mating (Pitkow et al., 2001).