Psychosocial stress by partner-loss enhanced pain behaviors in monogamous animal, prairie voles.

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08918
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Kochi University
• Principal Investigator: Osako Yoji 高知大学, 教育研究部医療学系基礎医学部門, 准教授 (40335922)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 由利 和也 高知大学, 教育研究部医療学系基礎医学部門, 教授 (10220534)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NISHIHARA Makoto 愛知医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (60380325)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: Psychosocial stress / pain

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Partner-loss prairie vole males showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in the open field test and elevated pain behaviors in formalin test as compared to paired males. Furthermore, there was a correlation between anxiety-like behaviors and pain-related behaviors. Concerning body temperature, partner loss increased body temperature just after the breaking bonds, and the increase persisted for at least 2 weeks. Elevation of body temperature during the open field and formalin test in the partner loss group was significantly less compared with paired males. In addition, partner-loss males showed increased of Fos immunoreactivity in the spinal dorsal horn and decreased in pain-related brain regions, especially in the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens.
Together, partner loss elicits anxiety-like behaviors, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and alters pain behaviors. The brain dopamine system is involved in neural processes underlying the pain modulation by social bonds.

Free Research Field

疼痛学