TY - JOUR
T1 - Chronic social stress in puberty alters appetitive male sexual behavior and neural metabolic activity
AU - Bastida, Christel C.
AU - Puga, Frank
AU - Gonzalez-Lima, Francisco
AU - Jennings, Kimberly J.
AU - Wommack, Joel C.
AU - Delville, Yvon
N1 - Funding Information:
These studies were supported by NSF IOB 0518272 awarded to YD, MH65728 and 076847 from NIH to FG-L, T32- MH65728 from NIH to FP, and T32-DA018926 from NIH to CCB. The authors are grateful to Dr. Kereshmeh Taravosh-Lahn for helpful discussions during the studies. The authors are also grateful Drs. Christine Duvauchelle, Andrea Gore, Theresa Jones and Juan Dominguez for helpful comments on this project.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - Repeated social subjugation in early puberty lowers testosterone levels. We used hamsters to investigate the effects of social subjugation on male sexual behavior and metabolic activity within neural systems controlling social and motivational behaviors. Subjugated animals were exposed daily to aggressive adult males in early puberty for postnatal days 28 to 42, while control animals were placed in empty clean cages. On postnatal day 45, they were tested for male sexual behavior in the presence of receptive female. Alternatively, they were tested for mate choice after placement at the base of a Y-maze containing a sexually receptive female in one tip of the maze and an ovariectomized one on the other. Social subjugation did not affect the capacity to mate with receptive females. Although control animals were fast to approach females and preferred ovariectomized individuals, subjugated animals stayed away from them and showed no preference. Cytochrome oxidase activity was reduced within the preoptic area and ventral tegmental area in subjugated hamsters. In addition, the correlation of metabolic activity of these areas with the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and anterior parietal cortex changed significantly from positive in controls to negative in subjugated animals. These data show that at mid-puberty, while male hamsters are capable of mating, their appetitive sexual behavior is not fully mature and this aspect of male sexual behavior is responsive to social subjugation. Furthermore, metabolic activity and coordination of activity in brain areas related to sexual behavior and motivation were altered by social subjugation.
AB - Repeated social subjugation in early puberty lowers testosterone levels. We used hamsters to investigate the effects of social subjugation on male sexual behavior and metabolic activity within neural systems controlling social and motivational behaviors. Subjugated animals were exposed daily to aggressive adult males in early puberty for postnatal days 28 to 42, while control animals were placed in empty clean cages. On postnatal day 45, they were tested for male sexual behavior in the presence of receptive female. Alternatively, they were tested for mate choice after placement at the base of a Y-maze containing a sexually receptive female in one tip of the maze and an ovariectomized one on the other. Social subjugation did not affect the capacity to mate with receptive females. Although control animals were fast to approach females and preferred ovariectomized individuals, subjugated animals stayed away from them and showed no preference. Cytochrome oxidase activity was reduced within the preoptic area and ventral tegmental area in subjugated hamsters. In addition, the correlation of metabolic activity of these areas with the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and anterior parietal cortex changed significantly from positive in controls to negative in subjugated animals. These data show that at mid-puberty, while male hamsters are capable of mating, their appetitive sexual behavior is not fully mature and this aspect of male sexual behavior is responsive to social subjugation. Furthermore, metabolic activity and coordination of activity in brain areas related to sexual behavior and motivation were altered by social subjugation.
KW - Appetitive male sexual behavior
KW - Behavioral development
KW - Cytochrome oxidase activity
KW - Preoptic area
KW - Social defeat
KW - Social subjugation
KW - Ventral tegmental area
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U2 - 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.05.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 24852486
AN - SCOPUS:84902185015
SN - 0018-506X
VL - 66
SP - 220
EP - 227
JO - Hormones and Behavior
JF - Hormones and Behavior
IS - 2
ER -