PSYCHOSOCIAL DISRUPTION OF ESTRADIOL ACTION ON BEHAVIOR

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. The NIMH-funded project was begun in July 2009 to test the hypothesis that psychosocial stress, mediated by social subordination, disrupts the prosocial and anxiolytic effects of estradiol in female rhesus monkeys. Thus far, we have collected data to further describe the phenotype of socially subordinate females. Changes in phenotype that were observed included: metabolic hormones, body size, reproductive parameters, behavior, neurochemistry, stress hormone response, and food intake. These data show that social subordination in female rhesus monkeys affects a number of phenotypes that impact behavioral and physiological health. In addition, Experiments 1A and 1B described in the application were initiated. This study investigated the dose-response effects of estradiol on sexual, affiliative, agonistic, and emotional behavior and how this is modified by social status. In the expression of affilative behaviors dominant females were significantly more responsive to the intermediate dose of estradiol than were subordinate females. Furthermore, the highest dose of estrogen increases afiilitative behavior in dominants but not subordinates. Female sexually motivated behavior showed a clear significant dose effect of estradiol with progressively higher rates of proceptive behaviors directed towards males with increasing doses of estradiol. This response to estradiol was significantly greater in dominant compared with subordinate females, regardless of dose. These data support our working hypothesis that continual exposure to social stressors, mediated by social subordination, attenuates the behavioral efficacy of estradiol in females. We expect data analysis for these studies to be completed in late January 2011 with several manuscripts submitted shortly thereafter.