Post-weaning stroking stimuli induce affiliative behavior toward humans and influence brain activity in female rats

Gentle touch contributes to affiliative interactions. We investigated the effects of gentle stroking in female rats on the development of affiliative behaviors toward humans and we exploratively examined brain regions in which activity was influenced by stroking. Rats that had received stroking stimuli repeatedly after weaning emitted 50-kHz calls, an index of positive emotion, and showed affiliative behaviors toward the experimenter. Hypothalamic paraventricular oxytocin neurons were activated in the rats after stroking. The septohypothalamic nucleus (SHy) in the post-weaningly stroked rats showed decreased activity in response to stroking stimuli compared with that in the non-stroked control group. There were negative correlations of neural activity in hypothalamic regions including the SHy with the number of 50-kHz calls. These findings revealed that post-weaning stroking induces an affiliative relationship between female rats and humans, possibly via activation of oxytocin neurons and suppression of the activity of hypothalamic neurons.