# Prairie voles as a novel model for the effects of pair bonds on aging

> **NIH NIH R56** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2022 · $500,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
Social relationships are crucially important to human health. The effects of social relationships on
healthy aging are seen in several systems, including the cardiovascular system, metabolism, emotion, and
cognitive function. The effects of social isolation and loneliness have been shown to independently increase
risk for stroke, heart disease, and overall mortality. High quality social support, in contrast, can play a positive
role in healthy aging including reducing metabolic syndrome and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Long-term
partnerships (such as marriage) are the primary close relationship in many adults, but other types of
relationships such as sibling relationships, other family relationships, and friendships, may also support healthy
aging.
Prairie voles are an excellent rodent model of social relationships, in that they show classic behavioral
characteristics of an attachment bond: adult males and females form pair bonds, which are characterized by a
preference for the familiar partner, distress upon separation, and the ability of the partner to provide a social
buffer against stress. These behavioral characteristics in prairie voles provide researchers with the ability to
examine the effects of specific types of affiliative relationships (pair mates, siblings, parent-offspring) in adult
males as well as in females. The hormone oxytocin has been established as a foundational mechanism in the
neurophysiology of relationship formation, relationship quality and partner loss. Its secretion is stimulated by a
wide variety of social stimuli, including social touch, sex and social stress. Its receptor is widespread
throughout the body. As such, it presents a potential unifying mechanism for organismal-scale effects of social
relationships on the brain and the body.
 Here we will examine how long-term social relationships influence cardiac, metabolic, cognitive and
emotional health across the lifespan. Our general approach is to use prairie voles, both males and females, in
differing social conditions (pair-bonded, housed with same-sex sibling, or isolated) to examine the effects of
presence of a relationship, type of that relationship, and quality of that relationship on cardiac and metabolic
health, behavioral and cognitive health, and longevity. We will longitudinally assess measures of cardiac,
metabolic, behavioral, and cognitive function at three timepoints: 6, 18, and 24 months of age. We will assess
changes in the OT system across aging, on both brain and peripheral tissues (heart, adipose tissue, and
skeletal muscle). Finally, we will explore how relationships change over time, and how loss of a partner affects
healthy aging.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10492017
- **Project number:** 5R56AG074542-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen L. Bales
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $500,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10492017

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10492017, Prairie voles as a novel model for the effects of pair bonds on aging (5R56AG074542-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10492017. Licensed CC0.

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