Abstract
摘要:包括人類在內的大多數哺乳動物都生存於社會團體內,或多或少都會受到團體內個體的相互影響。 在社交互動中關於性別、親屬、社會地位等社會訊息與生存及繁殖息息相關,在大腦中很可能演化出與處理社會學習與記憶相關的特定神經系統。社交互動或社交挫敗的相關經驗也可能會造成個體長期的社交退縮,並影響個體正常的社交生活,甚至進而造成與處理社會訊息相關之腦區結構的改變。社交互動中的社交挫敗是一種深具生態效度與行為效度的壓力經驗,通常會造成個體後續情緒的喚起與行為的改變。這種社交挫敗經驗的獲得可以經由個體自身的直接學習(意指個體透過自身的經歷學習到相關的行為與經驗),也可以透過間接觀察學習/社會學習而獲得(意指生手透過觀察他人的行動進而習得新的行為或訊息)。然而,迄今我們對於此種社會學習的機制與社交相關疾患(如自閉症與創傷後壓力症候群等)的病源學所知仍然相當有限,這類型的相關研究具有重要的科學貢獻,除了將增進我們對於社會神經科學的知識以及社會學習機制的瞭解外,同時也將提供未來治療社交相關疾患的線索。在本研究計畫中,將利用雄性倉鼠的攻擊行為以及社交互動設計一系列四個子計畫從跨領域多層次的研究取向去探討社交互動的情境效果以及觀察學習前後行為、賀爾蒙及神經上相應的改變。在這個三年的研究計畫中,訂定了以下四個特定目標:(1)目標一(從行為層次):有系統地去描述在經歷不同社交經驗後在不同測試情境下後續行為的相應改變;(2)目標二(從行為層次):評估觀察學習/社會學習前後行為的改變以及藥物的效果;(3)目標三(從賀爾蒙層次):嘗試利用酵素免疫分析法去監測倉鼠糞便內皮質醇代謝物的日夜週期變化當作壓力指標,並比較經歷社交互動及觀察學習前後的改變;(4)目標四(從神經層次):利用c-Fos/Arc免疫組織化學方法去找出倉鼠大腦中與觀察學習/社會學習有關之神經部位。在本研究計畫中所規劃的一系列相關實驗除了將有助於本實驗室進一步研究社會神經科學相關議題外,同時將增進我們對社交挫敗以及社會學習之行為與神經機制的瞭解。
Abstract: Most mammals including human live in social groups which more or less interact with and influence each other in the group. The information about gender, kin, and social status are essential for survival and reproductive success and it is likely that specialized neural mechanisms have evolved to process social learning and social memory. The experiences of social interactions or social defeats can lead to a lasting social avoidance which can influence individual’s normal social life and eventually affect brain structures in the processes of social information. Social defeat is a stressful experience with high ecological and ethological validity and it often leads to subsequent emotional arousal and behavioral changes. Defeated experience can be learned not only directly through individual learning (i.e., individuals undergo an experience directly and learned from their own experience) but also indirectly through observational or social learning (i.e., naïve individual acquires new behavior or information via observation of others’ doing). To date, however, much is still unclear regarding the mechanisms of social learning and the etiology of social illnesses (e.g., autism, PTSD etc.). The scientific merit of this line of research will increase our understanding of social neuroscience and the mechanisms of social learning and provide some clues to the understanding and treatment of social illnesses in the near future. In this 3-year research proposal, the agonistic behavior and social interactions of male hamsters are used to design a series of 4 projects from multi-disciplinary approaches to investigate the contextual effects after experiencing different social interactions and the behavioral, hormonal, and neural consequences before/after social learning using defeated hamsters as a model system. The following specific aims are from different levels to further study the underlying mechanisms of social learning and memory. (1) Specific aim 1 (at behavioral level): characterization of behavioral consequences in different test contexts after experiencing different social interactions; (2) Specific aim 2 (at behavioral level): evaluation of consequent changes and pharmacological effects during and after social/observational learning; (3) Specific aim 3 (at hormonal level): to apply enzyme immunoassay to monitor the circadian rhythm of stress hormones (i.e., fecal cortisol metabolites) before and after a social interaction; (4) Specific aim 4 (at neural level): to use c-Fos/Arc immunohistochemistry to examine the neural circuits underlying observational/social learning in the brains of hamsters. Experiments conducted in this proposal will set up a further step to study social neuroscience in our laboratory and increase our understanding of the behavioral and neural mechanisms of social defeat and social learning.
Keyword(s)
社交挫敗
觀察學習
攻擊行為
倉鼠
行為相應變化
賀爾蒙改變
糞便內皮質醇代謝物
c-Fos/Arc免疫組織化學分析
social defeat
observational learning
aggression
hamster
behavioral consequence
hormonal change
fecal cortisol metabolites
c-Fos /Arc immunohistochemistry