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Aspesi D, Choleris E. Neuroendocrine underpinning of social recognition in males and females. J Neuroendocrinol 2022; 34:e13070. [PMID: 34927288 DOI: 10.1111/jne.13070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Social recognition is an essential skill for the expression of appropriate behaviors towards conspecifics in most social species. Several studies point to oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) as key mediators of social recognition in males and females. However, sex differences in social cognitive behaviors highlight an important interplay between OT, AVP and the sex steroids. Estrogens facilitate social recognition by regulating OT action in the hypothalamus and that of OT receptor in the medial amygdala. The role of OT in these brain regions appears to be essential for social recognition in both males and females. Conversely, social recognition in male rats and mice is more dependent on AVP release in the lateral septum than in females. The AVP system comprises a series of highly sexually dimorphic brain nuclei, including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the amygdala and the lateral septum. Various studies suggest that testosterone and its metabolites, including estradiol, influence social recognition in males by modulating the activity of the AVP at V1a receptor. Intriguingly, both estrogens and androgens can affect social recognition very rapidly, through non-genomic mechanisms. In addition, the androgen metabolites, namely 3α-diol and 3β-diol, may also have an impact on social behaviors either by interacting with the estrogen receptors or through other mechanisms. Overall, the regulation of OT and AVP by sex steroids fine tunes social recognition and the behaviors that depend upon it (e.g., social bond, hierarchical organization, aggression) in a sex-dependent manner. Elucidating the sex-dependent interaction between sex steroids and neuroendocrine systems is essential for understanding sex differences in the normal and abnormal expression of social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dario Aspesi
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Elena Choleris
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
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De Jesús-Burgos MI, González-García S, Cruz-Santa Y, Pérez-Acevedo NL. Amygdalar activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors produces anti- and pro-conflict effects depending upon animal sex in a sexually dimorphic conditioned conflict-based anxiety model. Behav Brain Res 2016; 302:200-12. [PMID: 26777900 PMCID: PMC4839301 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2015] [Revised: 12/02/2015] [Accepted: 01/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Women are more susceptible than men to develop anxiety disorders, however, the mechanisms involved are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), a target for anxiety disorders, and whether estradiol may modulate conflict-based anxiety in female rats by using the Vogel Conflict Test (VCT). We used ovariectomized female rats with high (OVX+EB) and low (OVX) estradiol levels and intact male rats to evaluate sex differences. Infusion of (S)-3,5-Dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG), a group I mGluR agonist, into the basolateral amygdala, a region involved in anxiety-responses, statistically increased the number of shocks in OVX, but not OVX+EB female rats at 0.1, nor at 1.0 μM. In contrast, DHPG statistically decreased the number of shocks in male rats at 1.0 μM only. DHPG (0.1 μM) increased the number of recoveries in OVX, but not OVX+EB or male rats. Sex differences were detected for the number of shocks, recoveries and punished licks, where female rats displayed more conflict than male rats. Western blot analyses showed that protein expression of mGluR1, but not mGluR5 was higher in OVX+EB>OVX>male rats in the amygdala, whereas no significant differences were detected in the hippocampus, olfactory bulb and/or the periaqueductal gray. Therefore, DHPG produced paradoxical effects that are sex dependent; producing anxiolytic-like effects in female rats, while anxiogenic-like effects in male rats according to the VCT. These results highlight the importance of including female experimental models to underpin the neural circuitry of anxiety according to sex and for the screening of novel anxiolytic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- María I De Jesús-Burgos
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, PO Box 372230, Cayey, PR 00737-2230, USA
| | | | - Yanira Cruz-Santa
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, PO Box 372230, Cayey, PR 00737-2230, USA
| | - Nivia L Pérez-Acevedo
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine, UPR-MSC, PO Box 365067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067, USA.
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Voluntary running in young adult mice reduces anxiety-like behavior and increases the accumulation of bioactive lipids in the cerebral cortex. PLoS One 2013; 8:e81459. [PMID: 24349072 PMCID: PMC3859495 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2012] [Accepted: 10/22/2013] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Combinatorial therapies using voluntary exercise and diet supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids have synergistic effects benefiting brain function and behavior. Here, we assessed the effects of voluntary exercise on anxiety-like behavior and on total FA accumulation within three brain regions: cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum of running versus sedentary young adult male C57/BL6J mice. The running group was subjected to one month of voluntary exercise in their home cages, while the sedentary group was kept in their home cages without access to a running wheel. Elevated plus maze (EPM), several behavioral postures and two risk assessment behaviors (RABs) were then measured in both animal groups followed immediately by blood samplings for assessment of corticosterone levels. Brains were then dissected for non-targeted lipidomic analysis of selected brain regions using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results showed that mice in the running group, when examined in the EPM, displayed significantly lower anxiety-like behavior, higher exploratory and risky behaviors, compared to sedentary mice. Notably, we found no differences in blood corticosterone levels between the two groups, suggesting that the different EPM and RAB behaviors were not related to reduced physiological stress in the running mice. Lipidomics analysis revealed a region-specific cortical decrease of the saturated FA: palmitate (C16:0) and a concomitant increase of polyunsaturated FA, arachidonic acid (AA, omega 6-C20: 4) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, omega 3-C22: 6), in running mice compared to sedentary controls. Finally, we found that running mice, as opposed to sedentary animals, showed significantly enhanced cortical expression of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) protein, a signaling molecule required in the production of both AA and DHA. In summary, our data support the anxiolytic effects of exercise and provide insights into the molecular processes modulated by exercise that may lead to its beneficial effects on mood.
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Ramos-Pratts K, Rosa-González D, Pérez-Acevedo NL, Cintrón-López D, Barreto-Estrada JL. Sex-specific effect of the anabolic steroid, 17α-methyltestosterone, on inhibitory avoidance learning in periadolescent rats. Behav Processes 2013; 99:73-80. [PMID: 23792034 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2012] [Revised: 05/28/2013] [Accepted: 06/09/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The illicit use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) has gained popularity among adolescents in the last decade. However, although it is known that exposure to AAS impairs cognition in adult animal models, the cognitive effects during adolescence remain undetermined. An inhibitory avoidance task (IAT) was used to assess the effect of AAS (17α-methyltestosterone; 17α-meT--7.5 mg/kg) in male and female periadolescent rats. A single injection of 17α-meT immediately before the footshock produced significant impairment of inhibitory avoidance learning in males but not females. Generalized anxiety, locomotion, and risk assessment behaviors (RAB) were not affected. Our results show that exposure to a single pharmacological dose of 17α-meT during periadolescence exerts sex-specific cognitive effects without affecting anxiety. Thus, disruption of the hormonal milieu during this early developmental period might have negative impact on learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keyla Ramos-Pratts
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico
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De Jesús-Burgos M, Torres-Llenza V, Pérez-Acevedo NL. Activation of amygdalar metabotropic glutamate receptors modulates anxiety, and risk assessment behaviors in ovariectomized estradiol-treated female rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2012; 101:369-78. [PMID: 22326382 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2012.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2011] [Revised: 01/13/2012] [Accepted: 01/18/2012] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are more prevalent in females than males. The underlying reasons for this gender difference are unknown. Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have been linked to anxiety and it has been shown that interaction between estrogen receptors and mGluRs modulate sexual receptivity in rats. We investigated the role of mGluRs in anxiety-related behaviors in ovariectomized female rats with (OVX+EB) or without (OVX) estradiol implants. We centrally infused (s)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG), a group I mGluR agonist, into the basolateral amygdala (BLA) of OVX+EB and OVX rats at 0.1 and 1.0 μM. Male rats that normally have low estradiol levels were used to compare with OVX rats. Generalized anxiety, explorative activity and detection and analysis of threat were analyzed in the elevated plus maze (EPM) and risk assessment behaviors (RABs). DHPG (1.0 μM) increased the percentage of time spent in- and entries into- the open arms in OVX+EB, but not in OVX or male rats. Flat-back approaches and stretch-attend postures, two RABs, were significantly reduced by DHPG (0.1 and 1.0 μM) in OVX+EB rats only. DHPG did not modulate rearing and freezing, behaviors related to exploration and fear-like behavior, respectively. However, DHPG (1.0 μM) increased head dipping and decreased grooming behaviors in OVX rats, suggesting a weak explorative modulation. The effects of DHPG observed in OVX+EB, were blocked by 50 μM of (RS)-1-aminoindan-1,5-dicarboxylic acid (AIDA), a mGluR1 antagonist. AIDA and/or estradiol did not modulate anxiety and or RABs. Our results show that intra-BLA infusion of DHPG exerts an anxiolytic-like effect in OVX+EB, but not in OVX or male rats. This effect seems to depend upon mGluR1 subtype activation. Our findings led us to suggest that the effects observed in OVX+EB rats might be due to an interaction at the membrane level of estrogen receptors with mGlu1 within the BLA.
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Affiliation(s)
- María De Jesús-Burgos
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine, UPR-MSC, PO Box 365067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067, USA
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Sánchez Montoya EL, Hernández L, Barreto-Estrada JL, Ortiz JG, Jorge JC. The testosterone metabolite 3α-diol enhances female rat sexual motivation when infused in the nucleus accumbens shell. J Sex Med 2011; 7:3598-609. [PMID: 20646182 DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01937.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
AIM The purpose of this study was to provide a quantitative assessment of female rat sexual behaviors after acute exposure to the A-ring reduced testosterone metabolite, androstanediol (3α-Diol), through the nucleus accumbens (NA) shell. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quantitative analyses of female rat sexual behaviors and assessment of protein levels for the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase isoform 67 (GAD67) and gephyrin, a protein that participates in the clustering of GABA-A receptors in postsynaptic cells, were accomplished. METHODS Female rats were ovariectomized and primed with estrogen and progesterone to induce sexual behaviors. Females received a 3α-Diol infusion via guided cannula that aimed to the NA shell five minutes prior to a sexual encounter with a stud male. The following parameters were videotaped and measured in a frame by frame analysis: lordosis quotient (LQ), Lordosis rating (LR), frequency and duration of proceptive behaviors (hopping/darting and ear wiggling). Levels of GAD67 and gephyrin were obtained by Western blot analysis two or twenty-four hours after the sexual encounter. RESULTS Acute exposure to 3α-Diol in the NA shell enhanced LR, ear wiggling, and hopping/darting but not LQ. Some of these behavioral effects were counteracted by co-infusion of 3α-Diol plus the GABAA-receptor antagonist GABAzine. A transient reduction of GAD67 levels in the NA shell was detected. CONCLUSIONS The testosterone metabolite 3α-Diol enhances sexual proceptivity, but not receptivity, when infused into the NA shell directly. The GABAergic system may participate in the androgen-mediated enhancement of female rat sexual motivation.
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Foradori CD, Weiser MJ, Handa RJ. Non-genomic actions of androgens. Front Neuroendocrinol 2008; 29:169-81. [PMID: 18093638 PMCID: PMC2386261 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2007.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 331] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2007] [Revised: 10/12/2007] [Accepted: 10/24/2007] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Previous work in the endocrine and neuroendocrine fields has viewed the androgen receptor (AR) as a transcription factor activated by testosterone or one of its many metabolites. The bound AR acts as transcription regulatory element by binding to specific DNA response elements in target gene promoters, causing activation or repression of transcription and subsequently protein synthesis. Over the past two decades evidence at the cellular and organismal level has accumulated to implicate rapid responses to androgens, dependent or independent of the AR. Androgen's rapid time course of action; its effects in the absence or inhibition of the cellular machinery necessary for transcription/translation; and in the absence of translocation to the nucleus suggest a method of androgen action not initially dependent on genomic mechanisms (i.e. non-genomic in nature). In the present paper, the non-genomic effects of androgens are reviewed, along with a discussion of the possible role non-genomic androgen actions have on animal physiology and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- C D Foradori
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Neurobiology Section, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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Tzschentke TM. Measuring reward with the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm: update of the last decade. Addict Biol 2007; 12:227-462. [PMID: 17678505 DOI: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2007.00070.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1005] [Impact Index Per Article: 59.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Conditioned place preference (CPP) continues to be one of the most popular models to study the motivational effects of drugs and non-drug treatments in experimental animals. This is obvious from a steady year-to-year increase in the number of publications reporting the use this model. Since the compilation of the preceding review in 1998, more than 1000 new studies using place conditioning have been published, and the aim of the present review is to provide an overview of these recent publications. There are a number of trends and developments that are obvious in the literature of the last decade. First, as more and more knockout and transgenic animals become available, place conditioning is increasingly used to assess the motivational effects of drugs or non-drug rewards in genetically modified animals. Second, there is a still small but growing literature on the use of place conditioning to study the motivational aspects of pain, a field of pre-clinical research that has so far received little attention, because of the lack of appropriate animal models. Third, place conditioning continues to be widely used to study tolerance and sensitization to the rewarding effects of drugs induced by pre-treatment regimens. Fourth, extinction/reinstatement procedures in place conditioning are becoming increasingly popular. This interesting approach is thought to model certain aspects of relapse to addictive behavior and has previously almost exclusively been studied in drug self-administration paradigms. It has now also become established in the place conditioning literature and provides an additional and technically easy approach to this important phenomenon. The enormous number of studies to be covered in this review prevented in-depth discussion of many methodological, pharmacological or neurobiological aspects; to a large extent, the presentation of data had to be limited to a short and condensed summary of the most relevant findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas M Tzschentke
- Grünenthal GmbH, Preclinical Research and Development, Department of Pharmacology, Aachen, Germany.
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Rivera-Arce JC, Morales-Crespo L, Vargas-Pinto N, Velázquez KT, Jorge JC. Central effects of the anabolic steroid 17alpha methyltestosterone in female anxiety. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2006; 84:275-81. [PMID: 16814373 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2006.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2006] [Revised: 04/26/2006] [Accepted: 05/13/2006] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The androgen 17alpha-methyltestosterone (17alpha-meT) is one of the most commonly abused anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS). We assessed the impact of 17alpha-meT after bilateral infusion into the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) in female anxiety. A paradoxical effect in Vogel conflict test (VCT) behavior was noted: while AAS infusion induced an increase in the latency to display the appetitive reaction of the task, it also increased the number of punished responses. No changes in elevated plus maze (EPM) behavior were noted. However, AAS infusion induced an increase in social interactions. Changes in social interactions were mimicked by muscimol infusion and counteracted by co-infusion of AAS plus the GABAA receptor (GABAA-R) antagonist GABAzine. A reduction of systolic blood pressure was registered after AAS infusion in the DMH. No changes in fluid intake or locomotor behaviors were noted. We conclude that the AAS 17alpha-meT modulates distinct anxiety domains in females through a fast-acting mechanism.
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