Neuroendocrinology of Social Behavior

It is essential for human beings to establish and maintain emotional bonding with other people. However, it has become more and more difficult to form and maintain stable social relationships in a highly industrialized/computerized world. This has brought about a number of negative traits, such as neglect, child abuse, impulsive violence, etc.  The main goal of our research is to understand the neurobiological basis of social and affective behaviors. Since gonadal steroids play a central role in the regulation of sex-typical social behaviors throughout life, we will study brain mechanisms of their time-, sex-, and brain site-specific action. We aim to understand: (1) how hormones act on the development of neural network for social behavior; (2) how they regulate adaptive expression of behavior; and (3) how they determine sex and individual differences.

See: HP

Below listed for the last eight years.

• Pavlides, C., Donishi, T., Ribeiro, S., Mello, C.V., Blanco, W., and Ogawa, S. 2019 Hippocampal functional organization: A microstructure of the place cell network encoding space. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 161, 122-134. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2019.03.010.113.

• Le Moëne, O., Stavarache, M., Ogawa, S., Musatov, S., and Ågmo, A. 2019 Estrogen receptors a and b in the central amygdala and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus: Sociosexual behaviors, fear and arousal in female rats during emotionally challenging events. Behavioural Brain Research, 367, 128-142.

• Ogawa, S.,Tsukahara, S., Choleris, E., and Vasudevan, N. Estrogenicregulation of social behavior and sexually dimorphic brain formation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Oct 27. pii: S0149-7634(18)30277-X, 2018  doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.012.

• Tsuda, M.C., Nagata, K., Sagoshi, S., and Ogawa, S. 2018 Estrogen and oxytocin involvement in social preference in male mice: A study using a novel long-term social preference paradigm with aromatase, estrogen receptor- α and – β, oxytocin, and oxytocin receptor knockout male mice. Integrative Zoology, June 6. doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12343..

• Sano, K., Morimoto, C., Nakata, M., Musatov, S., Tsuda, M.S., Yamaguchi, N., Sakamoto, T., and Ogawa, S. 2018 The role of estrogen receptor in the dorsal raphe nucleus on the expression of female sexual behavior in mice. Frontier in Endocrinology, doi: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00243

• Nakata, M., Ågmo, A., Sagoshi, S., and Ogawa, S. 2018 The role of estrogen receptor b (ERb) in the establishment of hierarchical social relationships in male mice. Frontier in Behavioral Neuroscience, October 22.  doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00245.

• Maejima, S., Abe, Y., Nakajima, S., Yamaguchi, S., Musatov, S., Ogawa, S., Kondo, Y., and Tsukahara S. 2018 Experience-dependent reinforcement of sexual motivation by the medial preoptic nucleus. Endocrinology, 159, 3993-4005.

• Cho, J., Sypnieski, K.A., Arai, S., Yamada, K., Ogawa, S., and Pavlides, C. 2018 Fear memory consolidation in sleep requires protein kinase A. Learning and Memory, 25, 241-246.

• Nakata, M., Sano, K., Musatov, S., Yamaguchi, N., Sakamoto, T., and Ogawa, S. 2016 Effects of pre-pubertal or adult site-specific knockdown of estrogen receptor β in the medial preoptic area and medial amygdala on social behaviors in male mice. eNeuro, 3(2) e01555-15.2016 1-14.

• Sano, K., Nakata, M., Musatov, S., Sakamoto, T., Tsukahara, Sonoko, and Ogawa, S. 2016 Pubertal activation of estrogen receptor in the medial amygdala is essential for the full expression of male social behavior in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113, 7632-7637. 

• Moe, Y., Chaw, Kyi Tha Thu, Tanaka, T., Ito, H., Yahashi, S., Matsuda, K., Kawata, M., Katsuura, G., Iwashige, F., Sakata, I., Akune, A., Inui, A., Sakai, T., Ogawa, S., Tsukahara, S. 2016 A sexually dimorphic area of the dorsal hypothalamus in mice and common marmosets. Endocrinology, 157, 4817-4828.

• Ogawa, S., Tsuda, M.C., Sano, K., Tsukahara, S., and Musatov, S. 2015 Neural, hormonal and experiential control of sex-typical expression of social behavior. Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, 21, 181-187.

• Snoeren, E.M., Antonio-Cabrera, E., Spiteri, T., Musatov, S., Ogawa, S., Pfaff, D.W., and Ågmo, A. 2015 Role of Oestrogen α Receptors in Sociosexual Behaviour in Female Rats Housed in a Seminatural Environment. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 27:803-818.

• Tsuda, M.C., Yamaguchi, N., Nakata, M., and Ogawa, S. 2014 Modification of female and male social behaviors in estrogen receptor beta knockout mice by neonatal maternal separation. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8: 274.

• Kanaya, M., Tsuda, M.C., Sagoshi, S., Nagata, K., Morimoto, C., Thu, C.K., Today, K., Kato, S, Ogawa, S., and Tsukahara, S. 2014 Regional difference in sex steroid action on formation of morphological sex differences in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus and principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminals. PLoS One, 9: e112616.

• Anchan, D., Gafur, A., Sano, K., Ogawa, S., and Vasudevan, N. 2014 Activation of the GPR30 receptor promotes lordosis in female mice. Neuroendocrinology, 100: 71-80.

• Sano, K., Tsuda, M.C., Musatov, S., Sakamoto, T., & Ogawa, S. 2013 Differential effects of site-specific knockdown of estrogen receptor α in the medial amygdala, medial preotic area, and ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus on the sexual and aggressive behavior of male mice. European Journal of Neuroscience, 37, 1308-1319.

• 小川園子　2013 社会行動の調節を司るホルモンの働き 動物心理学研究 63, 31-46.

• Tsuda, M.C. and Ogawa, S. 2012 Long-lasting consequences of neonatal maternal separation on social behaviors in ovariectomized female mice. PLoS One, 7, e33028.

• Spiteri, T., Ogawa, S., Musatov, S., Pfaff, D.W., and Ågmo, A. 2012 The role of the estrogen receptor α in the medial preoptic area in sexual incentive motivation, proceptivity and receptivity, anxiety, and wheel running in female rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 230, 11-20.

• Handa, R.J., Ogawa, S., Wang, J.M., and Herbison, A.E. 2012 Roles for estrogen receptor beta in adult brain function. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 24, 160-173.

• Spencer-Segal, J.L., Tsuda, M.C., Mattei, L., Waters, E.M., Romeo, R.D., Milner, T.A., McEwen, B.S., and Ogawa, S. 2011 Estradiol acts via estrogen receptors alpha and beta on pathways important for synaptic plasticity in the mouse hippocampal formation. Neuroscience, 202, 131-46, 2012. Epub 2011 Nov 23.

International Behavioural Neuroscience Society

Organization for the Study of Sex Differences

Endocrine Society, USA

Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, USA

International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society

Society for Neuroscience, USA.

Japanese Society for Animal Psychology

Japanese Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

The Zoological Society of Japan

The Japan Neuroscience Society

Physiological Society of Japan

Japanese Society for Neuroendocrinology

We study hormonal functions connecting behaviors to the brain. We welcome students who are interested in investigation of emotion and sociality from brain-scientific perspectives. Please check our homepage (http://www.kansei.tsukuba.ac.jp/ ~ogawalab/) and visit our lab.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonoko_Ogawa