Fig. 6: OXTR antagonism in the SuM affects short and Long-term SRM.
a A schematic showing the behavioral experimental design. Saline and OXTR antagonist treatment were counterbalanced between test days, and short and long-term SRM was counterbalanced between cohorts. b A schematic of the behavioral paradigm for short-term SRM. Saline or OXTR antagonist was infused 10 min prior to the 1st encounter. c Top: A representative trace from one animal per treatment during the 2nd encounter following Saline or OXTR antagonist infusion. Bottom: Heat maps representing investigation time of all rats during novel or familiar investigation following saline or OXTR antagonist infusion. d Total investigation time of the novel vs. familiar stimuli during the 2nd encounter. Saline-infused rats showed a clear preference for Novel over Familiar stimuli, whereas the same rats showed no preference for Novel or Familiar stimuli after OXTR antagonist infusion (two-way RM ANOVA), social preference (Familiar vs. Novel) × treatment (Saline vs. OXTR antagonist) interaction (F1, 16 = 9.25, **P = 0.007, n = 9), effect of social preference (F1, 16 = 4.02, P = 0.06), and effect of treatment (F1, 16 = 0.01, P = 0.89). Post-hoc, Sidak multiple comparison test, Saline (Familiar vs. Novel) **P = 0.005, OXTR antagonist (Familiar vs. Novel, P = 0.96, ns). e Investigation time of the social stimuli during the 1st encounter. There was no significant difference between saline and OXTR antagonist treatment during the 1st encounter (two-tailed Student’s t-test, t5 = 1.513, P = 0.19, ns). f A schematic of the behavioral paradigm for long-term SRM. Saline or OXTR antagonist was infused 10 min prior to the 1st encounter. g Top: same as (c) but for long-term SRM. h Total investigation time of the novel vs. familiar stimuli during the 2nd encounter. Saline-infused rats showed a clear preference for novel over familiar stimuli, whereas the same rats showed no preference for the either stimuli after OXTR antagonist infusion (Two-way RM ANOVA, social preference × treatment (Saline v OXTR antagonist) interaction, F1,20 = 15.32, ***P = 0.0009, n = 11), effect of social preference (F1,20 = 15.27, ***P = 0.0009), and effect of treatment (F1,20 = 1.723, P = 0.2). Post-hoc, Sidak multiple comparison test, Saline (Familiar vs. Novel, ****P < 0.0001) and OXTR antagonist (Familiar vs. Novel, P = 0.78, ns). i There was no significant difference between saline and OXTR antagonist-infused group during the 1st encounter on the long-term SRM (two-tailed Student’s t-test, t10 = 0.24, P = 0.80, ns).
