Abstract

Social hierarchies emerge when animals compete for access to resources such as food, mates or physical space. Wild and laboratory male mice have been shown to develop linear hierarchies, however, less is known regarding whether female mice have sufficient intrasexual competition to establish significant social dominance relationships. In this study, we examined whether groups of outbred CD-1 virgin female mice housed in a large vivaria formed social hierarchies. We show that females use fighting, chasing and mounting behaviors to rapidly establish highly directionally consistent social relationships. Notably, these female hierarchies are less linear, steep and despotic compared to male hierarchies. Female estrus state was not found to have a significant effect on aggressive behavior, though dominant females had elongated estrus cycles (due to increased time in estrus) compared to subordinate females. Plasma estradiol levels were equivalent between dominant and subordinate females. Subordinate females had significantly higher levels of basal corticosterone compared to dominant females. Analyses of gene expression in the ventromedial hypothalamus indicated that subordinate females have elevated ERα, ERβ and OTR mRNA compared to dominant females. This study provides a methodological framework for the study of the neuroendocrine basis of female social aggression and dominance in laboratory mice.

Details

Title
Social hierarchy position in female mice is associated with plasma corticosterone levels and hypothalamic gene expression
Author
Williamson, Cait M 1 ; Lee, Won 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; DeCasien, Alexandra R 2 ; Lanham Alesi 1 ; Romeo, Russell D 3 ; Curley, James P 4 

 Columbia University, Department of Psychology, New York, USA (GRID:grid.21729.3f) (ISNI:0000000419368729) 
 New York University, Department of Anthropology, New York, USA (GRID:grid.137628.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8753); New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, USA (GRID:grid.452706.2) 
 Barnard College, Department of Psychology, New York, USA (GRID:grid.470930.9) (ISNI:0000 0001 2182 2351) 
 Columbia University, Department of Psychology, New York, USA (GRID:grid.21729.3f) (ISNI:0000000419368729); University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology, Austin, USA (GRID:grid.89336.37) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9924) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2224344177
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.