Post-weaning social isolation exacerbates aggression in both sexes and affects the vasopressin and oxytocin system in a sex-specific manner
Abstract
Post-weaning social isolation (PWSI) is known to induce exaggerated and abnormal aggression in male rats. Here we aimed to assess the effects of PWSI on aggressiveness and social behavior in both male and female rats. Furthermore, we evaluated how PWSI affects the central oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) systems in both sexes. Wistar rats were isolated (IS) or group housed (GH) in same-sex groups immediately after weaning. After seven weeks, rats underwent an intruder test to assess aggression. In one group, brains were immediately dissected afterwards for in situ hybridization and receptor autoradiography. The other group underwent additional anxiety-like and social behavior tests. PWSI induced increased (abnormal) aggression and impaired social memory in both sexes. Especially IS females exhibited abnormal aggression towards juveniles. Furthermore, PWSI increased OXT mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and decreased OXTR binding in the anterior portion of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), independent of the sex. V1a receptor binding was decreased in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and dentate gyrus (DG) in IS rats, regardless of sex. However, V1a receptor binding in the anterior portion of the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNSTa) was decreased in IS females but increased in IS males. Taken together, our data support PWSI as a reliable model to exacerbate aggression not only in male but also in female rats. In addition, OXT receptors in the NAcca and V1a receptors in the LH, DG, and BNSTa may play a role in the link between PWSI and aggression. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Current status of the neurobiology of aggression and impulsivity'.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In male rats, post-weaning or early adolescence social isolation leads to abnormal aggressive behaviors.
“Further studies in male rats found abnormal aggressive behaviors following post weaning or early adolescence social isolation (Tóth et al. 2008; Oliveira et al. 2019).”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as Oliveira et al. 2019
Cites
Lukas, M., Toth, I., Reber, S. O., Slattery, D. A., Veenema, A. H., & Neumann, I. D. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2011.95 · Cited by 403 · see citing works
Self-citationMedial amygdalar aromatase neurons regulate aggression in both sexes
Unger, E. K., Burke, K. J., Yang, C. F., Bender, K. J., Fuller, P. M., & Shah, N. M. (2015) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.040 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Veenema, A. H., Bredewold, R., & Neumann, I. D. (2007) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.02.008 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Self-citationDumais, K. M., Bredewold, R., Mayer, T. E., & Veenema, A. H. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.08.012 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Brain oxytocin in social fear conditioning and its extinction: involvement of the lateral septum
Zoicas, I., Slattery, D. A., & Neumann, I. D. (2014) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2014.156 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Self-citationVeenema, A. H., Beiderbeck, D. I., Lukas, M., & Neumann, I. D. (2010) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.03.006 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Self-citationBeiderbeck, D. I., Neumann, I. D., & Veenema, A. H. (2007) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05974.x · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Self-citationSex-specific effects of stress on oxytocin neurons correspond with responses to intranasal oxytocin
Steinman, M. Q., Duque-Wilckens, N., Greenberg, G. D., Hao, R., Campi, K. L., Laredo, S. A., Laman-Maharg, A., Manning, C. E., Doig, I. E., Lopez, E. M., et al. (2016) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.10.007 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Barrett, C. E., Arambula, S. E., & Young, L. J. (2015) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/tp.2015.73 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Role of V1a vasopressin receptors in the control of aggression in Syrian hamsters
Elliott Albers, H., Dean, A., Karom, M. C., Smith, D., & Huhman, K. L. (2006) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2005.12.081 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
DiBenedictis, B. T., Nussbaum, E. R., Cheung, H. K., & Veenema, A. H. (2017) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.24216 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Donovan, M., Mackey, C. S., Platt, G. N., Rounds, J., Brown, A. N., Trickey, D. J., Liu, Y., Jones, K. M., & Wang, Z. (2020) · Neurobiology of Stress · doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100278 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Gemmer, A., Mirkes, K., Anneser, L., Eilers, T., Kibat, C., Mathuru, A., Ryu, S., & Schuman, E. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07990-y · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Russell, N. M., Frier, M. D., Bortolato, M., & Mangieri, R. A. (2026) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-025-06938-0 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Oliveira, V. E. D. M., Neumann, I. D., & de Jong, T. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Oliveira, Vinícius Elias de Moura
- Venue
- Neuropharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-09
- Volume
- 156
- Pages
- 107504
- ISSN
- 0028-3908 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2910135301
- Cited by
- 87
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 11.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuropharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (submittedVersion)
- ORBi (University of Liège) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission’s 7th Framework Health programme
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Keywords
- post-weaning social isolation, aggression, sex differences, oxytocin, vasopressin, oxytocin receptor, vasopressin V1a receptor, social memory, anxiety-like behavior, paraventricular nucleus, nucleus accumbens, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, lateral hypothalamus, dentate gyrus, adolescent aggression, social behavior
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Animals, Arginine Vasopressin, Brain, Female, Hypothalamus, Male, Nucleus Accumbens, Oxytocin, RNA, Messenger, Septal Nuclei, Sex Characteristics, Social Isolation, Rats, Wistar, Receptors, Vasopressin, Receptors, Oxytocin, Dentate Gyrus
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
