Journal
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR
Volume 58, Issue 4, Pages 614-618Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.06.014
Keywords
Oxytocin; Affiliative behavior; Cotton-top tamarins; Monogamy; Cooperative breeding; Sex differences
Categories
Funding
- USPHS [MH035215]
- University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Committee
- Wisconsin National Primate Research Center [RR000167]
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH RESOURCES [P51RR000167] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH [R01MH035215] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH [P51OD011106] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Oxytocin plays an important role in monogamous pairbonded female voles, but not in polygamous voles. Here we examined a socially monogamous cooperatively breeding primate where both sexes share in parental care and territory defense for within species variation in behavior and female and male oxytocin levels in 14 pairs of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). In order to obtain a stable chronic assessment of hormones and behavior, we observed behavior and collected urinary hormonal samples across the tamarins' 3-week ovulatory cycle. We found similar levels of urinary oxytocin in both sexes. However, basal urinary oxytocin levels varied 10-fold across pairs and pair-mates displayed similar oxytocin levels. Affiliative behavior (contact, grooming, sex) also varied greatly across the sample and explained more than half the variance in pair oxytocin levels. The variables accounting for variation in oxytocin levels differed by sex. Mutual contact and grooming explained most of the variance in female oxytocin levels, whereas sexual behavior explained most of the variance in male oxytocin levels. The initiation of contact by males and solicitation of sex by females were related to increased levels of oxytocin in both. This study demonstrates within-species variation in oxytocin that is directly related to levels of affiliative and sexual behavior. However, different behavioral mechanisms influence oxytocin levels in males and females and a strong pair relationship (as indexed by high levels of oxytocin) may require the activation of appropriate mechanisms for both sexes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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