ABSTRACT
Mate retention strategies are an important tool in keeping a partner, and their use is determined by the mate value (MV) of the partner one is trying to keep. The type of strategy used is also dependent on one's own MV: mates of lower MV are more prone to exhibiting strategies that are cost-inflicting for their partners, whereas partner-benefiting strategies are used by mates of higher value. The type of strategies used affects relationship satisfaction (RS), and is also affected by the perceived difference in MVs. However, it is unclear how someone's perception of their partner's MV is related to that partner's behavior and their own RS. To this aim, we investigated the relationship between these variables on a sample of 178 couples. Our results showed that benefit-inducing strategies were used more by--and towards--partners of higher MV, and were positively connected with RS. Cost-inflicting strategies were more used by--and towards--partners of lower MV, and were negatively connected with RS. Less MV difference was positively correlated with RS and benefiting strategies, and negatively correlated with cost-inflicting strategies. It seems that good mates use strategies that benefit their partners, which, in turn, make them more valuable and, consequently, their partner more satisfied.
Subject(s)
Interpersonal Relations , Marriage/psychology , Men/psychology , Personal Satisfaction , Sexual Partners/psychology , Women/psychology , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , MotivationABSTRACT
Sialic acids play important roles in various biological functions. In the brain, evidence suggests that sialylation of glycoproteins and glycolipids affects neural plasticity. While the 18 sialyltransferase isoenzymes (STs) identified to date synthesize individual sialyl-oligosaccharide structures, they each exhibit activity toward more than one substrate and can overlap in their specificity. Therefore, the distribution of STs is a secondary factor in the study of specific sialylation. Here, seven STs; ST3Gal I-IV, ST8Sia IV, ST6Gal I and ST6GalNAc II, the expressions of which were identified in the adult hippocampus by RT-PCR, showed diverse localization patterns in the hippocampus on in situ hybridization, suggesting that the individual cells expressed relevant STS: Furthermore, to assay activity-related changes in ST expression, we used amygdaloid-kindling among models of neural plasticity. Differential expression of the STs participating in the kindling, notably, up-regulation of ST3Gal IV and ST6GalNAc II mRNAs, and down-regulation of ST3Gal I and ST8Sia IV mRNAs, were observed in the hippocampus following kindled seizures. These results indicate that ST expressions are regulated by physiological activity and may play a role in neural plasticity.
Subject(s)
Hippocampus/metabolism , Isoenzymes/biosynthesis , RNA, Messenger/biosynthesis , Seizures/metabolism , Sialyltransferases/biosynthesis , Animals , Autoradiography , Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic , Hippocampus/cytology , Hippocampus/enzymology , In Situ Hybridization , Male , Mice , Neurons/enzymology , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Seizures/enzymology , Up-RegulationABSTRACT
Amygdaloid kindling is a model of human temporal lobe epilepsy, in which excitability in limbic structures is permanently enhanced by repeated stimulations. We report here dendritic aberrations occurring in mice following kindled-seizures. Adult mice received a biphasic square wave pulse [495+/-25.5 (S.E.M.) microA 60 Hz, 200 micros duration, for 2 s] unilaterally in the basolateral amygdaloid complex once a day and mice with electrophysiologically and behaviorally verified seizures were used in the experiments. The hippocampus and amygdaloid complex contralateral to the lesions were observed by immunofluorescence histochemistry with a somatodendritic marker, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), showing that kindled-seizures caused hypertrophy of proximal dendrites in the granule cells of the dentate gyrus and in neurons of the amygdalohippocampal area. To further characterize the morphological changes of the dendrites, electron micrographic analysis was performed on the contralateral side. (1) In the granular layer of the dentate gyrus and the amygdalohippocampal area, kindled-seizures generated an increase in the number of dendrites containing polymerized microtubules and width of dendritic profiles showing the increase was in the range 0.2-3.0 and 0.2-1.4 microm, respectively. (2) In the granular layer, bundles between dendrites separated by the puncta adhaerentia increased. (3) In the granular layer, the seizure-induced dendritic aberration was more severe in the rostral than the caudal region. These results suggested that growth of dendrites with enriched-stable microtubules is part of the structural plasticity in response to seizure activity in specific areas of the adult brain.
