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Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access published online on November 6, 2006
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi:10.1093/scan/nsl032
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received August 1, 2006
Accepted September 17, 2006

Special Issue Paper

Mechanisms underlying sexual and affiliative behaviors of mice: relation to generalized CNS arousal

Deborah N. Shelley 1, Elena Choleris 2, Martin Kavaliers 3, and Donald W. Pfaff 1 *

1 Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, 10021, USA
2 Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1
3 Department of Psychology University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, N6A 5C2

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Donald W. Pfaff, E-mail: pfaff{at}rockefeller.edu


  Abstract

The field of social neuroscience has grown dramatically in recent years and certain social responses have become amenable to mechanistic investigations. Toward that end, there has been remarkable progress in determining mechanisms for a simple sexual behavior, lordosis behavior. This work has proven that specific hormone-dependent biochemical reactions in specific parts of the mammalian brain regulate a biologically important behavior. On one hand, this sex behavior depends on underlying mechanisms of CNS arousal. On the other hand, it serves as a prototypical social behavior. The same sex hormones and the genes that encode their receptors as are involved in lordosis, also affect social recognition. Here we review evidence for a micronet of genes promoting social recognition in mice and discuss their biological roles.

Keywords: CNS arousal; affiliative behavior; oxytocin; lordosis; social recognition.
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