Fig. 1.

Chronic social isolation in adulthood affected long-term cell survival (assessed by BrdU-labeling) and proliferation (assessed by Ki67-labeling) in the brains of female prairie voles. Compared to pair-housed females (control, n=9), single-housed females (isolation, n=9) showed fewer BrdU-labeled cells in the amygdala (AMY) (A–C), dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus (D–F), and ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) (G), but not in the medial preoptic area (H, K). In addition, the number of BrdU-labeled cells in the AMY and DG was significantly higher than that in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and VMH (K). Socially isolated females (n=8) also showed fewer Ki67-labeled cells in the DG (J) and MPOA, compared to pair-housed females (n=8; L). Finally, the number of Ki67-labeled cells in the AMY (I) was similar to the number in the DG, but higher than that in the MPOA and VMH (L). opt: optic tract; BlA: basolateral, CeA: central, CoA: cortical, and MeA: medial nuclei of the AMY. *p<0.05 and **p<0.01. Alphabetic characters represent the results of the post-hoc test. Error bars represent SEM. Scale bar=500 μm.