Peptide effects on social behavior: effects of vasotocin and isotocin on social approach behavior in male goldfish (Carassius auratus)

• Published in: Behavioral neuroscience Vol. 118; no. 3; p. 620
• Main Authors: Thompson, Richmond R, Walton, James C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.06.2004
• Subjects: Animals; Arginine Vasopressin - analogs & derivatives; Arginine Vasopressin - pharmacology; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Goldfish; Locomotion - drug effects; Male; Oxytocin - analogs & derivatives; Oxytocin - pharmacology; Photic Stimulation - methods; Sex Attractants - pharmacology; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Social Behavior; Time Factors; Vasotocin - antagonists & inhibitors; Vasotocin - pharmacology
• ISSN: 0735-7044
• DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.118.3.620

The authors measured the effects of centrally infused peptides on social approach behaviors in goldfish (Carassius auratus), a social teleost. Vasotocin (VT) inhibited approach responses toward the visual stimuli of conspecifics in the absence of aggressive or sexual olfactory contextual cues in males, and a V1 receptor antagonist stimulated such responses, at least in males that were not highly social in baseline conditions, as did isotocin (IT). In the absence of social stimuli, VT did not affect activity, therefore indicating that the inhibition was not the result of nonspecific effects on arousal or motor functioning. These experiments indicate that VT and IT induce opposite effects on social approach responses in male goldfish and that endogenous VT, at least, is associated with levels of sociality.