In the socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), the development of a social bonding is indicated by the formation of partner preference, which involves a variety of environmental and neurochemical factors and brain structures. In a most recent study in female prairie voles, we found that treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A (TSA) facilitates the formation of partner preference through up-regulation of oxytocin receptor (OTR) and vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR) genes expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that TSA treatment also facilitates partner preference formation and alters OTR and V1aR genes expression in the NAcc in male prairie voles. We thus observed that central injection of TSA dose-dependently promoted the formation of partner preference in the absence of mating in male prairie voles. Interestingly, TSA treatment up-regulated OTR, but not V1aR, gene expression in the NAcc similarly as they were affected by mating – an essential process for naturally occurring partner preference. These data, together with others, not only indicate the involvement of epigenetic events but also the potential role of NAcc oxytocin in the regulation of partner preference in both male and female prairie voles.
A chemically responsive liquid crystal polymer network is experimentally characterized and compared to a nonlinear constitutive model and integrated into a finite element shell model. The constitutive model and large deformation shell model are used to understand water vapor induced bending. This class of materials is hygroscopic and can exhibit large bending as water vapor is absorbed into one side of the liquid crystal network (LCN)film. This gives rise to deflection away from the water vapor source which provides unique sensing and actuation characteristics for chemical and biomédical applications. The constitutive behavior is modeled by coupling chemical absorption with nonlinear continuum mechanics to predict how water vapor absorption affects bending deformation. In order to correlate the model with experiments, a micro-Newton measuring device was designed and tested to quantify bending forces generated by the LCN. Forces that range between I and 8 ¡iN were measured as a function of the distance between the water vapor source and the LCN. The experiments and model comparisons provide important insight into linear and nonlinear chemically induced bending for a number of applications such as microfluidic chemical and biological sensors.
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