Peer-Social Network Development Revealed by the Brain Multivariate Correlation Map with 10 Monoamines and 11 Behaviors

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders induced by social stress have suggested that monoamines play key roles in a whole brain network. To research an environmentally dependent neural network development of social psychology, we report our model animal study of peer-social behavior learning by screening the relevant monoamines in various brain regions in the light of social brain network. We have originally developed psycho-biological quantification batteries based on multivariate analysis over species, including the current subjects, domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). The chicks’ peer-social environment was regulated as grouped and isolated from just after hatching. After two weeks, their acquired behavioral features were examined in a social meeting with unfamiliar peers and then, quantified 10 kinds of monoamines in their 13 brain regions at their steady state under off lighted conditions in day-time. The whole brain concentration map visualized regional difference of 10 monoamines. Furthermore, we attempted to map behavioral feature correlation with each monoamine in the whole 13 brain regions. These results showed that isolated chicks expressed (1) significantly higher Dopamine (DA) of left caudal forebrain, (2) moderately higher Norepinephrine (NE) of thalamus-midbrain correlating with immobile and alert behavior. While 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) as well as Normetanephrine (NM) correlated with alert-immobile behavioral feature, Homovanillic Acid (HVA) seemed to weekly correlate with active-affinity behavior. In addition, there existed lateral asymmetry of the correlation generally as left-alert and right-affinity in the lateral part of the brain. These correlations between social behavior and monoamines would possibly contribute to comprehend the developmental mechanism of social brain networks. These findings open a new way in constituting a functional map by multivariate analysis of social behavior and monoamines and their metabolites.