Subcaste differences in neural activation suggest a prosocial role for oxytocin in eusocial naked mole-rats.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) influences prosocial behavior(s), aggression, and stress responsiveness, and these diverse effects are regulated in a species- and context-specific manner. The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a unique species with which to study context-dependent effects of OT, exhibiting a strict social hierarchy with behavioral specialization within the subordinate caste: soldiers are aggressive and defend colonies against unfamiliar conspecifics while workers are prosocial and contribute to in-colony behaviors such as pup care. To determine if OT is involved in subcaste-specific behaviors, we compared behavioral responses between workers and soldiers of both sexes during a modified resident/intruder paradigm, and quantified activation of OT neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SON) using the immediate-early-gene marker c-fos co-localized with OT neurons. Resident workers and soldiers were age-matched with unfamiliar worker stimulus animals as intruders, and encounters were videorecorded and scored for aggressive behaviors. Colony-matched controls were left in their home colony for the duration of the encounters. Brains were extracted and cell counts were conducted for OT immunoreactive (ir), c-fos-ir, and percentage of OT-c-fos double-labeled cells. Results indicate that resident workers were less aggressive but showed greater OT neural activity than soldiers. Furthermore, a linear model including social treatment, cortisol, and subcaste revealed that subcaste was the only significant predictor of OT-c-fos double-labeled cells in the PVN. These data suggest that in naked mole-rats OT promotes prosocial behaviors rather than aggression and that even within subordinates status exerts robust effects on brain and behavior.

A game of thrones: neural plasticity in mammalian social hierarchies.

Social status is a key regulator of health and reproduction in mammals, including humans. Despite this, relatively little is known about how social status influences the mammalian brain. Furthermore, the extent to which status is an independent construct, i.e., not simply acting as a psychosocial stressor, is yet to be determined. Research to date reveals several promising mechanisms and/or systems associated with social status, including monoamine systems, hypothalamic neuroendocrine axes, and the hippocampus, though whether these differences are the cause or effect of status is often unclear. We review these candidates and propose how best to approach this research question in the future.