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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Aug 27.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Exp Med Biol. 2012;739:187–205. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-1704-0_12

Figure 1.

Figure 1

In female prairie voles, oxytocin receptors (Oxtr) in the nucleus acumbens (NAcc) are thought be important for the formation of partner preference. Autoradiograms illustrating Oxtr distribution between monogamous female prairie voles (A) and nonmonogamous female meadow voles (B) demonstrate that female prairie voles have increased Oxtr binding in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the caudate putamen (CP) and the NAcc compared to female meadow voles. Further, female prairie voles given a selective NAcc prior to and 12 hours into a 24 hour cohabitation period do not form a partner preference compared to females that received cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) into the PFC, CP and NAcc at the same time points (i.e., combined). (C). (A) and (B) were adapted from Hammock and Young. J Phil Trans R Soc B 2006; 361:2187–2198,3 ©2006 with permission from The Royal Society. (C) was adapted from Young et al. Horm Behav 2001; 40:133–138,72 ©2001 with permission from Elsevier.