English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Role of arginine vasopressin in modulating plasticity in defensive behavior Shantala Arundathi Hari Dass; shan0044@e.ntu.edu.sg School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551 Social behavior can be viewed as a varying output of an approach-avoidance conflict. For example a potential mate elicits a strong ‘approach’ response and a predator induces the very opposite. Social behavior must be plastic to best adapt to a continuously changing (biotic and abiotic) environment. Different external states are mirrored by changes in levels of circulating sex hormones; presence of a mating opportunity elevates testosterone levels while presence of a stressor depresses it. I hypothesize that the plasticity in social behavior is a function of changes in circulating sex hormones; i.e. testosterone in males. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neuropeptide widely implicated in social behavior. In the extrahypothalamic regions of the brain it is highly sensitive to testosterone. Castration causes a drop in AVP projections in the extrahypothalmic zone, medial amygdala (MEA); a change that can be attributed to an androgen dependent hypermethylation of the AVP promotor. For these reasons extrahypothalmic AVP was selected as a candidate target. I focused my studies on the MEA, a part of the social behavior network, which has a central role in social behaviors such as reproductive and defensive behavior. The infection of rats by Toxoplasma gondii is a well suited system to study social behavior. Infected male rats display an attraction to their feline predators. This is a shift of the approach-avoidance conflict from avoidance to approach. I show that this change can be generalized to sexual aspects of the social behavior, coupled with a corresponding increase in