同性恋形成的行为神经内分泌机制

本文主要从生物学角度出发,从遗传学、神经内分泌学、行为学和神经解剖学方面综述了同性恋发生的神经内分泌机制。除了遗传和环境影响之外,围产期异常的性激素环境导致了性倾向的异常。在个体发育过程中通过下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴和下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的作用,性腺类固醇激素和多种神经递质相互作用调节个体的性倾向的形成。同时,本文还提出目前该领域的研究进展、有待于解决的问题,以及进一步的研究方向,希望有助于人们正确认识同性恋的发生,关注同性恋生理和心理健康,预防青少年同性恋的发生。     

捕食风险对小型哺乳动物行为、神经和内分泌的影响

长期进化过程中,猎物形成了对捕食者先天的敏感性。捕食风险对小型哺乳动物的影响主要包括行为的改变、神经环路的激活和内分泌的变化。行为的改变包括抑制运动活动、降低非防御行为以及改变生活环境。一些研究用c-fos免疫组化的方法测定了大鼠在暴露于猫的气味后大脑被激活的区域,主要包括中间杏仁核、下丘脑腹内侧区、背内侧区、前乳头状核和导水管周围灰质（periaqueductal gray）。猎物对捕食应激的反应还表现在一些内分泌指标的改变,一些激素如皮质酮（Corticoserone,CORT）和促肾上腺皮质激素（Adrenocorticotropic hormone,ACTH）的含量会显著的增加,同时在一些雄性动物中,睾丸激素的含量会有所降低。捕食者和猎物的关系近年来已经成为很多学科研究的有用工具。     

白腰文鸟发声行为的神经发育

本文研究了 5～ 15 0日龄雄性白腰文鸟 (Lonchurastriataswinhoei)不同年龄段的声谱变化以及这种变化的神经调制机制。结果如下 :(1)HVC、RA和AreaX三个发声核团的神经联系基本接近成年鸟的水平后 ,幼鸟才开始学习鸣叫 (约 45日龄 ) ;(2 )HVC、RA和AreaX达到成年核团体积时 (约 80日龄 ) ,幼鸟才具有成年雄鸟的鸣叫模式 ;(3)发声控制核团的发育与核团间的神经支配有关 ,而基本不受鸣唱行为的影响 ,HVC、RA和AreaX的最快增长时间段各不相同 ,三个核团随年龄增长而呈现体积增长的显著变化 (one wayANOVA ,P <0 0 5 ) ,但各核团在任意两个时间段的体积差异并不都显著。结果提示 :发声行为产生的时间和发展与发声控制核团的发育、核团间的神经联系有关 ,最终的体积发育程度受内在遗传力的作用 ,同时可能还受神经核团建立正常神经联系时间的影响     

免疫－神经内分泌相互作用

免疫－神经内分泌相互作用郑仲承（中国科学院上海生物化学研究所,上海２０００３１）关键词免疫,神经,内分泌,相互作用我们都知道,“意志可以战胜疾病”,睡眠不足会使机体的免疫能力下降,都说明精神状态影响着健康。精神状态与神经系统有关;健康状态则与内分泌和...     

神经内分泌讲座（二）：———促甲状腺激素分泌的神经内分泌调节

甲状腺是人及动物体内十分重要的内分泌器官。它分泌的甲状腺激素调节机体的代谢、生长发育等过程。甲状腺的功能又受到下丘脑－腺垂体－甲状腺轴的调节,而下丘脑又受脑的其它部位的功能控制。因此,通过下丘脑的神经内分泌作用,将神经系统的活动与甲状腺的内分泌功能有...     

2008年神经内分泌暨神经免疫内分泌学术研讨会会议纪要

由中国生理学会消化内分泌生殖代谢生理专业委员会、中国神经科学会神经免疫专业委员会和中国解剖学会神经解剖专业委员会联合主办的“2008年神经内分泌暨神经免疫内分泌学术研讨会”于2008年7月20—23日在云南省大理市顺利举行,来自全国11个省市和香港地区的综合大学、医学院校和有关研究机构等近30个单位的80余名代表出席了会议。     

The co-evolution of individual behaviors and social institutions

We present agent-based simulations of a model of a deme-structured population in which group differences in social institutions are culturally transmitted and individual behaviors are genetically transmitted. We use a standard extended fitness accounting framework to identify the parameter space for which this co-evolutionary process generates high levels of group-beneficial behaviors. We show that intergroup conflicts may explain the evolutionary success of both: (a) altruistic forms of human sociality towards unrelated members of one's group; and (b) group-level institutional structures such as food sharing which have emerged and diffused repeatedly in a wide variety of ecologies during the course of human history. Group-beneficial behaviors may evolve if (a) they inflict sufficient fitness costs on outgroup individuals and (b) group-level institutions limit the individual fitness costs of these behaviors and thereby attenuate within-group selection against these behaviors. Thus, the evolutionary success of individually costly but group-beneficial behaviors in the relevant environments during the first 90,000 years of anatomically modern human existence may have been a consequence of distinctive human capacities in social institution building.     

The effect of multiple inseminations on the evolution of social behaviors in diploid and haplo-diploid organisms

Using a classical population genetic model, the necessary conditions for the spread of genes that determine social behaviors and the rate of spread of these genes are derived. The influence of 1, 2, 3, or k inseminations per female on these conditions is investigated for both diploid and haplodiploid organisms. These results are then extended to a population in which there are arbitrary variations among females in their numbers of mates. These results do not depend upon assuming equal paternity by all inseminating males; the effects of sperm competition and unequal paternity are also derived. The rates and conditions for social evolution in these groups of complex composition are discussed in relation to Hamilton's rule.For all models, the total change in gene frequency, Δq, is partitioned into two components: (1) $\text{Δq}{}_{\mathrm{I}}$, the change in gene frequency caused by selection within groups; this component is always negative, illustrating that individual selection always operates against the evolution of social behaviors; and (2) Δq_G, the change in gene frequency caused by selection between groups; this component is generally positive. Hamilton's rule is shown to specify the necessary and sufficient conditions for $\text{Δq}{}_{\mathrm{G}}\text{> |}\text{Δq}{}_{\mathrm{I}}\text{|}$, that is, for selection among kin groups to over-ride individual selection within kin groups.     

Minocycline modulates human social decision-making: possible impact of microglia on personality-oriented social behaviors

Background

Microglia, one of the glial cells, play important roles in various brain pathologies including psychiatric disorders. In addition, microglia have recently been proved to monitor synaptic reactions via direct-touching even in normal brain. Human microglia may modulate various social/mental functions, while microglial social/mental roles remain unresolved especially in healthy humans. There is no known drug with the specific effect of modulating microglia. Therefore, using minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic and the most famous microglial inhibitor, is one of the best alternative approaches to clarify microglial functions on human social/mental activities.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted a double-blind randomized trial of trust game, a monetary decision-making experiment, with ninety-nine human adult males who decided how much to trust an anonymous partner after a four-day administration of minocycline. Our previous pilot trial indicated a positive effect of minocycline, while the underlying mechanisms were not clarified. Therefore, in this trial with larger samples, we additionally measured the effects of anxiety and personality. The monetary score in trust game was significantly lower in the minocycline group. Interestingly, participants’ ways of decision-making were significantly shifted; cooperativeness, one component of personality, proved to be the main modulating factor of decision-making in the placebo group, on the other hand, the minocycline group was mainly modulated by state anxiety and trustworthiness.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results suggest that minocycline led to more situation-oriented decision-making, possibly by suppressing the effects of personality traits, and furthermore that personality and social behaviors might be modulated by microglia. Early-life events may activate human microglia, establish a certain neuro-synaptic connection, and this formation may determine each human’s personality and personality- oriented social behaviors in later life. To explore these mechanisms, further translational research is needed.

Trial Registration

UMIN clinical trial center UMIN000004803     

Decision-making neural circuits mediating social behaviors

We propose a mathematical model of a continuous attractor network that controls social behaviors. The model is examined with bifurcation analysis and computer simulations. The results show that the model exhibits stable steady states and thresholds for steady state transitions corresponding to some experimentally observed behaviors, such as aggression control. The performance of the model and the relation with experimental evidence are discussed.     

Influence of social rank on defecating behaviors in feral cats

Feral cats,Felis catus, showed 2 different defecating behaviors: they buried feces or left then exposed on the ground. We studied the relationship between the spatial distribution of buried/exposed feces and body weight of the producers, using the bait-marking method. Disproportionally small numbers of feces were found in the core areas of home ranges. The proportion of exposed feces in the core area was not different from that outside the core area, either and was not correlated with body weight in either sex. Heavier male cats buried feces at higher frequencies at sites closer to the centers. Such relationships were not found for females. These results suggest that social rank influences defecating behaviors in male feral cats. alphabetical order     

吡虫啉对3种体色型烟蚜取食行为的影响

为探究吡虫啉对红色型、绿色型和褐色型3种体色型烟蚜取食行为的影响,利用刺探电位图谱(EPG)技术比较3种体色型烟蚜在吡虫啉处理后的烟苗上的取食行为。结果表明:33.3 mg/L吡虫啉处理烟苗后,3种体色型烟蚜的非刺探总时间(np波)均长于清水处理的绿色型烟蚜,其中褐色型烟蚜最长,且与清水处理的绿色型烟蚜存在显著性差异(P0.05);刺探过程中,3种体色型烟蚜在烟苗上口针遇到阻力(F波)的时间均长于清水处理的绿色型烟蚜,但处理间差异不显著;木质部取食阶段,褐色型烟蚜的G波平均持续时间最长;韧皮部取食阶段,3种体色型烟蚜口针在韧皮部分泌唾液(E1波)和被动吸食汁液(E2波)的总持续时间均短于清水处理的绿色型烟蚜,其中被动吸食汁液的时间红色型为15.87±9.33 min,绿色型为29.89±8.79 min,而褐色型仅为6.38±2.15 min。因此,吡虫啉处理烟苗后能明显抑制烟蚜对烟草韧皮部的取食。     

The effects of predation risk on the use of social foraging tactics

The effects of predation on the use of social foraging tactics, such as producing and scrounging, are poorly known in animals. On the one hand, recent theoretical models predict increased use of scrounging with increasing predation risk, when scroungers seeking feeding opportunities also have a higher chance of detecting predators. On the other hand, there may be no relation between tactic use and predation when antipredator vigilance is not compatible with scanning flockmates. We investigated experimentally the effects of predation risk on social foraging tactic use in tree sparrows, Passer montanus. We manipulated predation risk in the field by changing the distance between shelter and a feeder. Birds visited the feeder in smaller flocks, spent less time on it and were somewhat more vigilant far from shelter than close to it. Increased predation risk strongly affected the social foraging tactic used: birds used the scrounger tactic 30% more often far from cover than close to it. Between-flock variability in scrounging frequency was not related to the average vigilance level of the flock members, and within-flock variability in the use of scrounging was negatively related to the vigilance of birds. Our results suggest that in tree sparrows, the increased frequency of scrounging during high predation risk cannot simply be explained by an additional advantage of increasing antipredator vigilance. We propose alternative mechanisms (e.g. increased stochasticity in food supply, and that riskier places are used by individuals with lower reserves) that may explain increased scrounging when animals forage under high predation risk.