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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Front Neuroendocrinol. 2010 Aug 3;32(1):53–69. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2010.07.006

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Vasopressin (AVP) and dopamine (DA) involvement in selective aggression in male prairie voles. (A) Photomicrograph shows AVP-immunoreactive (AVP-ir) cell bodies and fibers (brown cytoplasmic staining), Fos-immunoreactive (Fos-ir) staining (dark nuclear staining), or both (insert) in the anterior hypothalamus (AH). (B) Males pair-bonded with a female for two weeks displaying aggression toward either male or female strangers, have a significantly higher density of AVP-ir/Fos-ir double labeled cells in the AH compared to males re-exposed to their partner or not exposed to any conspecific (control). (C) AH-AVP release is higher in pair-bonded males that are exposed to a stranger female than those that are re-exposed to their partner. (D) Males paired with a female for two weeks (Paired) have higher densities of vasopressin receptors (V1aRs) in the AH than males that are sexually naïve (Naïve). (E) Sexually naïve males (Naïve) given intra-AH injections of AVP display significantly more aggression than males treated with CSF, and this AVP-induced aggression is blocked by concurrent administration of AVP with a V1aR antagonist (V1aR Ant). Pair-bonded males (Paired) display robust aggression toward novel females and this behavior is significantly decreased by intra-AH injection of a V1aR antagonist. (F) Sexually naïve males injected in the AH with an adeno-associated virus expressing the V1aR gene (AAV-V1aR) display significantly more aggression toward stranger females than control males. (G) Pair-bonded males (Paired) have higher densities of D1Rs in the NAcc than sexually naïve males (Naïve). (H) These differences in D1R density between paired and naïve males are significant, however no group differences are found in NAcc D2R density. (I) Pair-bonded males display aggression toward a stranger female, but not their partner, and these effects are blocked by the infusion of a D1R antagonist (D1R Ant), but not D2R antagonist (D2R Ant), into the NAcc. Bars indicate means ± standard error of the mean. Bars with different Greek letters differ significantly from each other. *: p < 0.05. Adapted from [8, 99, 100].