Female birds are more vulnerable to social isolation stress: involvement of the nonapeptide system

Here, we investigate the sex-specific impacts of SIS during the adolescence on social behavior of adulthood in zebra finches, to determine the corresponding changes in MT and VT contents in the social behavior network and pharmacologically validate the observed functions of nonapeptides in modulating social behavior. This may provide a comparative framework to unravel the neurobiological underpinnings of social behaviors in avian species and offer valuable insights into the adaptive significance and evolutionary trajectories of sociality and stress-coping mechanisms in vertebrates.