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Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on October 4, 2008
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2008 48(5):596-603; doi:10.1093/icb/icn089
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

How do social dominance and social information influence reproduction and the brain?

Julie K. Desjardins1 and Russell D. Fernald
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Correspondence: 1E-mail: desjarjk{at}stanford.edu

How does living in a social environment influence the brain? In particular, we ask the following questions: How do animals perceive and use social information? How does the perception of social information influence the reproductive system? Where is this represented in the brain? We present a model system in which these questions can be addressed, focusing on the brain's role in integrating information. In the social fish, Astatotilapia burtoni (Haplochromis), the relationship between social status and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH1) has been well established. Change in status results in numerous changes in the physiology of A. burtoni at every level of organization. Social status can regulate reproduction via the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis. GnRH1 is used by the brain to signal the pituitary about reproductive state so reproductive control depends on regulation of this signaling peptide. In this fish, social dominance is tightly coupled to fertility. Here, we have exploited this link to understand the regulatory systems from circulating hormones, brain volume to gene expression.

From the symposium, "Advances in Neurobiology" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 2–6, 2008, at San Antonio, Texas.


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