# THE NEURAL BASIS OF PAIR-BONDING IN FEMALE TITI MONKEYS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2021 · $479,072

## Abstract

Project Summary
The neurobiology of social behavior is of crucial importance not only in order to understand our own basic
biology, but also for cases in which social behavior is impaired (for example, autism spectrum disorder and
schizophrenia). The effects of social support on long-term health are now largely undisputed; and the dangers
of loneliness are also increasingly well-recognized. For instance, a recent meta-analysis found that poor social
relationships led to 29% increased risk for coronary heart disease, and a 32% increased risk for stroke. Our
own prior investigations on the neurobiology of primate social bonds, like many others, have focused on males.
Females represent a crucial and under-studied population when it comes to both psychiatric disorders of social
behavior and studies of primate pair-bonding. Females are also more likely to be diagnosed with affective
disorders, such as major depressive disorder, which may have critically understudied social risk factors, such
as social stress. Here we propose a series of investigations into the neurobiological basis of attachment in
female titi monkeys, a socially monogamous New World primate, using pharmacology and functional imaging
to address fundamental questions about the substrates for sociality. Our overarching hypothesis is that the
transition from attachment to parents to attachment to a pair-mate, may rely on neuropeptide receptor function,
particularly the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin. We will study these questions in adolescent and
adult female titi monkeys. We will use behavioral pharmacology to investigate the effects of oxytocin and
vasopressin manipulation on the fundamental traits of an attachment (preference for the partner/parent,
distress upon separation, and social buffering). We use functional imaging to examine dynamic changes in
glucose uptake in areas that we know to have oxytocin or vasopressin receptors in titi monkeys, in response to
manipulations including the presence or absence of an attachment figure. Finally, we will use molecular
techniques to examine changes in methylation of the oxytocin and vasopressin receptors across the course of
pair-bonding, separation, and buffering from stress.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144014
- **Project number:** 5R01HD092055-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen L. Bales
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $479,072
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-14 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144014

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144014, THE NEURAL BASIS OF PAIR-BONDING IN FEMALE TITI MONKEYS (5R01HD092055-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144014. Licensed CC0.

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