Senior Research Associate
Giltner 137D
phone: 517-980-0373
email: bredewol@msu.edu
Research Interests
My research interests focus on the roles of vasopressin and oxytocin in the development of social behavior. I am studying juvenile play-fighting and social recognition. Play-fighting is a behavior typically expressed at juvenile age and is crucial for the development of social skills and effective social communication. Social recognition consists of the ability to recognize familiar from unfamiliar individuals and is key to social communication. Despite recent advances in the roles of vasopressin and oxytocin in social behavior at adult ages, much less is known about the roles of these neuropeptides at immature ages.
Positions and Education
Since 2017
Senior Research Associate in the Neurobiology of Social Behavior Lab, directed by Dr. Alexa Veenema, Michigan State University
2010-2016
Senior Research Associate in the Neurobiology of Social Behavior Lab, directed by Dr. Alexa Veenema, Boston College
2009 – 2010
Research Associate, Laboratory of Dr. G.J. de Vries, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
2004 – 2009
Research Assistant and Lab Coordinator, Laboratory of Dr. I.D. Neumann, University of Regensburg, Germany
1997
M. Sc. in Medical Biology, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Selected references
Lee JDA, Reppucci CJ, Bowden SA, Huez EDM, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2021) Structural and functional sex differences in the ventral pallidal vasopressin system are associated with the sex-specific regulation of juvenile social play behavior in rats. BioRxiv 2021.01.31.429043.
Reppucci CJ, Gergely CK, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2020) Involvement of orexin/hypocretin in the expression of social play behaviour in juvenile rats. International Journal of Play 9:108-127.
Hodges TE, Eltahir AM, Patel S, Bredewold R, Veenema AH, McCormick CM (2019) Effects of oxytocin receptor antagonism on social function and corticosterone release after adolescent social instability in male rats. Horm Behav 116:104579.
Worley NB, Dumais KM, Yuan JV, Newman LE, Alonso AG, Gillespie TC, Hobbs NJ, Breedlove SM, Jordan CL, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2019). Estrogen and androgen receptor activation contribute to the masculinization of oxytocin receptors in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of rats. J Neuroendocrinology Jun 24:e12760.
Bredewold R, Nascimento NF, Ro GS, Cieslewski SE, Reppucci CJ, Veenema AH (2018) Involvement of dopamine, but not norepinephrine, in the sex-specific regulation of juvenile socially rewarding behavior by vasopressin. Neuropsychopharmacology 43:2109-2117.
Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2018) Sex differences in the regulation of social and anxiety-related behaviors: insights from vasopressin and oxytocin brain systems. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 49:132-140.
Hodges TE, Baumbach JL, Marcolin ML, Bredewold R, Veenema AH, McCormick CM (2017) Social instability stress in adolescent male rats reduces social interaction and social recognition performance and increases oxytocin receptor binding. Neuroscience, 359:172-182.
Smith CJ, Poehlmann ML, Li S, Ratnaseelan AM, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2017) Age and sex differences in oxytocin and vasopressin V1a receptor binding densities in the rat brain: focus on the social decision-making network. Brain Struct Funct, 222:981-1006.
Dumais KM, Alonso AG, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2016) Role of the oxytocin system in amygdala subregions in the regulation of social interest in male and female rats. Neuroscience, 330:138-149.
Dumais KM, Alonso AG, Immormino MA, Bredewold R, Veenema AH (2016) Involvement of the oxytocin system in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the sex-specific regulation of social recognition. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 64:79-88.
Bredewold R, Schiavo JK, Van der Hart M, Verreij M, Veenema AH (2015) Dynamic changes in extracellular release of GABA and glutamate in the lateral septum during social play behavior in juvenile rats: Implications for sex-specific regulation of social play behavior. Neurosci, 307:117-27.
Bredewold R, Smith CJW, Dumais KM, Veenema AH (2014) Sex-specific modulation of juvenile social play behavior by vasopressin and oxytocin depends on social context. Front Behav Neurosci, Jun 16;8:216.
Dumais KM, Bredewold R, Mayer TE, Veenema AH (2013) Sex differences in oxytocin receptor binding in forebrain regions: correlations with social interest in brain region- and sex-specific ways. Horm Behav, 64:693-701.
Veenema AH, Bredewold R, De Vries GJ (2013) Sex-specific modulation of juvenile social play by vasopressin. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38:2554-61.
Taylor PV, Veenema AH, Paul MJ, Bredewold R, Isaacs S, de Vries GJ (2012) Sexually dimorphic effects of a prenatal immune challenge on social play and vasopressin expression in juvenile rats. Biology of Sex Differences, Jun 14;3(1):15.
Beiderbeck DI, Reber SO, Havasi A, Bredewold R, Veenema AH, Neumann ID (2012) High and abnormal forms of aggression in rats with extremes in trait anxiety – Involvement of the dopamine system in the nucleus accumbens. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37:1969-80.
Veenema AH, Bredewold R, De Vries GJ (2012) Vasopressin regulates social recognition in juvenile and adult rats of both sexes, but in sex- and age-specific ways. Horm Behav, 61:50-56.
Lukas M, Bredewold R, Landgraf R, Neumann ID, Veenema AH (2011) Early life stress impairs social recognition due to a blunted response of vasopressin release within the septum of adult male rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36:843-853.
Lukas M, Bredewold R, Neumann ID, Veenema AH (2010) Maternal separation interferes with developmental changes in brain vasopressin and oxytocin receptor binding in male rats. Neuropharmacology, 58:78-87.
Veenema AH, Bredewold R, Neumann ID (2007) Opposite effects of maternal separation on intermale and maternal aggression in C57BL/6 mice: link to hypothalamic vasopressin and oxytocin immunoreactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 32:437-450.
Donner N, Bredewold R, Maloumby R, Neumann ID (2007) Chronic intracerebral prolactin attenuates neuronal stress circuitries in virgin rats. Eur J Neurosci, 25:1804-1814.
Bosch OJ, Müsch W, Bredewold R, Slattery DA, Neumann ID (2007) Prenatal stress increases HPA axis activity and impairs maternal care in lactating female offspring: implications for postpartum mood disorder. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 32:267-278.