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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015 Nov 17;64:79–88. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.007

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4

Sex-specific oxytocin (OT) release in the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (pBNST) as a function of social recognition ability. (A) Males and females that showed social recognition have a significantly higher percent novel investigation compared to males and females that did not show social recognition (see statistics section for selection criteria). Independent of social recognition ability, males show significantly higher total social investigation time during T1 (B) and during T2 (C) compared to females. (D) There is no effect of sex or social recognition ability on baseline OT concentrations in the pBNST. (E) The percentage of OT release in the pBNST of rats that showed social recognition is significantly higher during T1 versus dialysate 1 and 3 and during dialysate 5 versus dialysate 1 in males only. The percentage of OT release in the pBNST of rats that showed social recognition is also significantly higher in males than in females during T1 and T2. (F) In females that did not show social recognition, the percentage of OT release is higher during T2 and during dialysate 3 versus dialysate 1. The percentage of OT release in the pBNST of rats that did not show social recognition is higher in females than in males during T2. (G) The percentage of OT release in the pBNST is not different between males that showed social recognition and males that did not show social recognition. (H) The percentage of OT release is higher in females that did not show social recognition compared to females that showed social recognition during T2. OT release is expressed as percent change from baseline OT concentrations. Data are expressed as mean + SEM. A–D: **p<0.001, *<0.05, two-way ANOVA, ***p<0.0001, two-way ANOVA, followed by T-test, #: significantly different from chance level (p<0.05, one sample t-test). EH: * p<0.05 versus dialysate 1, # p<0.05 versus dialysate 3, $ p<0.05 versus other sex, @p<0.05 versus females that show social recognition, three-way ANOVA for repeated measures followed by LSD post hoc test; T1, 4-min exposure to first juvenile; T2, 4-min exposure to previously-exposed juvenile along with a novel juvenile.