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REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Experimental Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1418089
This article is part of the Research Topic Recent Advances in Endocrinology of Non-Traditional Mammalian Models View all 3 articles
Conserved and differing functions of the endocrine system across different social systems: oxytocin as a case study
Provisionally accepted- 1 California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States
- 2 Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States
- 3 Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- 4 Language Research Center, Atlanta, GA, United States
- 5 Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- 6 Neuroscience Institute, College of Arts and Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
A key goal of the field of endocrinology has been to understand the hormonal mechanisms that drive social behavior and influence reactions to others, such as oxytocin. However, it has sometimes been challenging to understand which aspects and influences of hormonal action are conserved and common among mammalian species, and which effects differ based on features of these species, such as social system. This challenge has been exacerbated by a focus on a relatively small number of traditional model species. In this review, we first demonstrate the benefits of using non-traditional models for the study of hormones, with a focus on oxytocin as a case study in adding species with diverse social systems. We then expand our discussion to explore differing effects of oxytocin (and its response to behavior) within a species, with a particular focus on relationship context and social environment among primate species. Finally, we suggest key areas for future exploration of oxytocin’s action centrally and peripherally, and how non-traditional models can be an important resource for understanding the breadth of oxytocin’s potential effects.
Keywords: Oxytocin, Endocrinology, Non-traditional models, Hormones, Behavior, social systems
Received: 16 Apr 2024; Accepted: 12 Jun 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Sosnowski and Brosnan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Meghan J. Sosnowski, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, 95616-8542, California, United States
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