Maternal and paternal origin differentially affect prosocial behavior and neural mechanisms in prairie voles.

This study tested the hypotheses that maternal and paternal effects differentially influence expression of their offspring's adult behavior and underlying neural mechanisms. We predicted that maternal influences would be greater than paternal influences on male offspring. We tested these hypotheses by cross-breeding two phenotypically-, behaviorally- and neuroanatomically-distinct populations of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) from Illinois, which are highly prosocial, and Kansas, which are significantly less prosocial.

The SHR Y chromosome increases cardiovascular, endocrine, and behavioral responses to stress compared to the WKY Y chromosome.

The SHR Y chromosome has loci which are involved with behavioral, endocrine and brain phenotypes and respond to acute stress to a different degree than that of the WKY Y chromosome. The objectives were to determine if WKY males with an SHR Y chromosome (SHR/y) when compared to males with a WKY Y chromosome would have: 1. a greater increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BP), heart rate (HR), and locomotor activity when placed in an open field environment and during an acute stress procedure; 2.