(779.4) Effect of Social Isolation on Ovarian Follicles in Female Mice

Poster Board Number: C34
Introduction: AAA has separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – 10:15 am – 11:15 am
Even poster #s – 11:15 am – 12:15 pm

Nathan Rice (Utica College), Adam Pack (Utica College), Terri Provost (Utica College), Sarah Keesom (Utica College)

Stay-at-home orders and social distancing have been central to the public health strategy employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these measures are essential for reducing the transmission of COVID-19, surveys administered during the pandemic revealed that this decrease in social interaction also resulted in increased loneliness and isolation in human populations over the past year. Social interaction is an important component of overall human wellness. In fact, social contact and social support are associated with better health and decreased mortality in humans. More studies are needed to specifically investigate how social isolation affects reproductive systems. Based on the rationale that environmental stimuli can influence hormonal cascades and therefore affect reproduction, we hypothesized that the lack of social stimuli experienced during social isolation influences the production of ovarian follicles. To test this, three-week-old female Swiss-Webster mice were placed in individual housing or in groups of three for five weeks, then their ovaries were harvested and embedded in Durcupan. From each right ovary, we cut 110 sections at 2-μm thickness, 20 sections at 10-μm thickness, and 100 sections at 2-μm thickness. The cuts were oriented transversely to the oviduct. An observer, blind to experimental treatment, evaluated sample sections taken every 50 µm by counting the total number of follicles present. In our preliminary analysis, we observed fewer follicles in individually housed mice than in group-housed mice. These preliminary results suggest that social isolation has implications for reproductive health and, in a larger context, demonstrate the importance of intraspecies interactions for social animals.