# Understanding the neural basis of social attachment

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $90,337

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 This supplement is designed to provide the applicant with experience and training in experimental
neuroscience so that she may best integrate her background in computer science with her intended career in
neuroscience and medicine. Social attachments form the basis of human relationships at every level of social
organization. Disruptions in attachment occur across the spectrum of mental illness, and severe neuropsychiatric
disorders often manifest with a dramatic collapse of social attachment and cognition. Despite this critical role of
social attachment, little is known regarding the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying attachment. Mice and
other genetic model organisms do not exhibit enduring social attachments, precluding genetic analysis of these
behaviors.
 Prairie voles are small rodents that display social monogamy, or pair bonds, between mates. Pair bond
formation results in dramatic changes to many other innate social behaviors. Thus, prairie voles engage in a rich
repertoire of social behaviors that strikingly mirror attachment in humans. Pioneering work identified the peptide
hormones vasopressin (Avp) and oxytocin (Oxt), as critical mediators of pair bonding in voles and social cognition
and behaviors in humans. These findings suggest that the genetics and neural control of social attachment may
be conserved, and indeed, have inspired clinical trials seeking to use these hormones to ameliorate disruptions
in social cognition due to neuropsychiatric conditions. Nevertheless, how these pathways and other genes
function to control specific aspects of complex social behaviors remains unknown.
 Until now, we have been unable to understand how OxtR and V1aR function to control patterns of neural
activity in response to partners or strangers. We have generated prairie voles bearing mutations in OxtR and
V1aR that completely eliminate the function of these receptors, and determined, strikingly, that OxtR is not
required for pair bonding, but facilitates partner preference and sex-specifically controls prosocial behavior with
strangers. Thus, a more refined understanding of the behavioral processes underlying social attachment may
provide new insights into the pathways that mediate affiliation. This supplement is designed to provide training
for the applicant in experimental neuroscience to facilitate her continuing education prepare her for her intended
graduate and medical career. Here we propose to optimize and implement unbiased automated behavioral
tracking and detection to understand the behavioral modules that facilitate pair bonding, and determine how
activation of specific populations of OxtR neurons influences these behaviors. These studies will elucidate the
mechanisms by which OxtR and V1aR facilitate attachment and, eventually, inform new therapeutic approaches
across the spectrum of mental illness.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10599715
- **Project number:** 3R01MH123513-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Devanand Sadanand Manoli
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $90,337
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10599715

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10599715, Understanding the neural basis of social attachment (3R01MH123513-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10599715. Licensed CC0.

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