As a result, when prairie voles are separated from their partners even for a short time, they experience withdrawal-like symptoms, says Larry Young, a behavioral neuroscientist at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center and co-author of the study. Studies have shown that in monogamous animals, cohabiting and mating increase levels of oxytocin and vasopressin-hormones that foster emotional attachments-and activate brain areas associated with reward. In many ways, separation appears to resemble drug withdrawal. When the animals received a drug that blocked corticosterone release, they no longer exhibited depressionlike behavior following partner separation, confirming that stress hormones were at the root of the response. Males that had been separated from their male siblings did not display any of these symptoms, implying the response was tied specifically to mate separation, not just social isolation. In a study published last fall, researchers showed that male prairie voles that had been separated from their female partners for four days-a much shorter amount of separation time than researchers had previously found to affect the voles’ physiology-exhibited depressionlike behavior and had increased levels of corticosterone, the rodent equivalent of the human stress hormone cortisol.
Now researchers are identifying the neurochemical mechanisms behind these behavioral and physiological effects. Studies using anecdotal evidence have indicated that long-term separation from a romantic partner can lead to increased anxiety and depression as well as problems such as sleep disturbances.
Everyone knows it’s no fun to be away from your significant other.
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