The inner dynamics of positive human-animal interactions: investigating the roles of oxytocin, opioids, dopamine, serotonin and the proteome

Research on the neuroendocrine basis of positive interactions has predominantly focused on oxytocin (OT), although dopamine (DA) and opioids also play crucial roles. Furthermore, these neurotransmitters are known to interact with each other but have seldom been studied concurrently. In this study, we quantified longitudinal changes in these neurotransmitters using a within-subject, 2 x 2 factorial design by varying human familiarity (familiar versus unfamiliar) and contact type (positive contacts versus ignoring) for 10 min human-pig interaction sessions. We repeatedly sampled cerebrospinal fluid from 10 pigs through a spinal catheter 65 and 5 min before the test and at 10, 30, 60, 120 and 240 min after the start of the test. Samples at various timepoints were analysed for OT, DA metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA), serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), beta-endorphin opioids concentrations, and using proteomics to explore novel protein candidates. The test condition (human familiarity x contact type) had a significant effect on the concentration of beta-endorphin (F1,118.59 = 4.45; P = 0.04) and 5-HIAA (F1,73.47 = 5.02; P = 0.03), and tended to affect the concentration of oxytocin (F1, 119.8 = 3.19; P = 0.08) and DOPAC (F1,70.57 = 3.31; P = 0.07), but pair-wise comparisons were not significant. There was only a minor effect on the pigs' behaviour, which suggests that the test conditions may have had limited effect. Nevertheless, this approach provides a valuable method to study neurotransmitter changes over time and simultaneously.