# Epigenetics of social bonding in prairie voles

> **NIH NIH R01** · FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $380,000

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Social attachments are a vital part of healthy human behavior and an inability to
form such attachments is regarded as a symptom of mental disorders such as
anti-social disorders, schizophrenia and autism. Studying the mechanisms
underlying social attachment requires an animal model that displays behaviors
similar to that of human social attachment. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)
have become an important model for the study of the neurobiology of social
attachment. In the field, male and female prairie voles form long-term,
monogamous bonds and share a nest throughout the breeding season. Such a
breeding pair typically remains together until one animal dies. Given that mating
in prairie voles induces neuroadaptations that eventually lead to bonding, we
propose here to investigate whether mating induced social bonding has an
underlying epigenetic basis. Our preliminary data support this hypothesis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9934002
- **Project number:** 5R01MH109450-05
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MOHAMED KABBAJ
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $380,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-26 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9934002

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9934002, Epigenetics of social bonding in prairie voles (5R01MH109450-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9934002. Licensed CC0.

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