US-Germany Cooperative Research: Exchange of Viral Vector and Microdialysis Techniques for Studying Neuropeptide Function

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

0233145 Young This award supports the PI and postdoctoral students from Emory University in a collaboration with Inga Neumann of the Institute for Zoology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. The combined efforts of the German and US groups will focus on their shared interest in the role of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in the regulation of social behavior and stress coping. The US group at the NSF Center for Behavioral Neuroscience focuses on the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in social attachment of the monogamous rodent species the prairie vole. Studies suggest that oxytocin and vasopressin are released in the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum during mating, which trigger the pair bond formation. There is, however, no direct evidence of peptide release during mating in the monogamous voles. This issue will be addressed in the collaboration using in vivo microdialysis and sensitive radioimmunoassay. The German group is the only one in the world to have successfully measured oxytocin and vasopressin release in behaving rodents. The project also has an educational objective. The project will allow the postdoctoral students involved to benefit from performing research in another country. They will develop a heightened appreciation of the world around them while also learning important new technical skills.