Hormones and behavior
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Hormones and behavior · Feb 2003
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialImplicit motives and gonadal steroid hormones: effects of menstrual cycle phase, oral contraceptive use, and relationship status.
Implicit motives for power and affiliation, salivary levels of testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone, and relationship status were measured in 18 normally cycling (NC) women, 18 women using oral contraceptives (OC), and 18 men at three assessments, corresponding to the menstrual, midcycle, and premenstrual phases of women's menstrual cycle. NC and OC women had elevated levels of affiliation motivation and decreased levels of power motivation at midcycle. Power motive changes were particularly pronounced in NC women across cycle phases. ⋯ Averaged levels of estradiol and power motivation were positively correlated in engaged women, but not in single women or men. Averaged levels of progesterone and affiliation motivation were negatively correlated in men, and there was evidence for a positive association between luteal affiliation motivation and periovulatory and luteal progesterone in NC women. This study therefore provides evidence that implicit motivational states fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, that the power motive is associated with testosterone and, in women, with estradiol, and that the affiliation motive and progesterone are associated in different ways in men and NC women.
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Hormones and behavior · Jun 2000
Differential distribution and regulation of OX1 and OX2 orexin/hypocretin receptor messenger RNA in the brain upon fasting.
To further understand the functions of the orexin/hypocretin system, we examined the expression and regulation of the orexin/hypocretin receptor (OX1R and OX2R) mRNA in the brain by using quantitative in situ hybridization. Expression of OX1R and OX2R mRNA exhibited distinct distribution patterns. Within the hypothalamus, expression for the OX1R mRNA was largely restricted in the ventromedial (VMH) and dorsomedial hypothalamic nuclei, while high levels of OX2R mRNA were contained in the paraventricular nucleus, VMH, and arcuate nucleus as well as in mammilary nuclei. ⋯ An initial decrease (14 h) and a subsequent increase (20 h) in OX1R mRNA levels after fasting were observed in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus and lateral division of amygdala. Levels of OX2R mRNA were augmented in the arcuate nucleus, but remained unchanged in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, and amygdala following fasting. The time-dependent and region-specific regulatory patterns of OX1R and OX2R suggest that they may participate in distinct neural circuits under the condition of food deprivation.
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Hormones and behavior · Apr 1999
Self-injurious behavior is decreased by cyproterone acetate in adult male rhesus (Macaca mulatta).
Self-injurious behavior (SIB) presents a serious problem in laboratory macaques that cannot be socially housed for scientific reasons and among institutionalized children and adults where it is often associated with different forms of brain dysfunction. We have experienced limited success in reducing SIB in macaques by enhancing their environment with enrichment devices. Psychotropic drugs also help, but problems are associated with their use. ⋯ We hypothesized that the progestin activity of CA represses the hypothalamic gonadal axis and decreases testosterone, which in turn decreases SIB. In addition, we speculate that the decrease in 5HIAA and HVA in CSF may have been caused by progestins decreasing the activity of MAO. Therefore, the reduction of SIB may also be related to an increase in the availability of active monoamines in the CNS.
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Hormones and behavior · Mar 1996
Allopregnanolone (THP) mediates anesthetic effects of progesterone in rat brain.
Intravenous infusion of the progesterone or that of progesterone 5 alpha-reduced metabolite, 3 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one (THP), induces the loss of righting reflex in freely moving rats at the doses of 49 +/- 15 mg/kg or 5.6 +/- 2.2 mg/kg, respectively. The recovery time of righting reflex was 71 +/- 12 min and 21 +/- 5 min for progesterone and THP, respectively. The time course of brain concentrations of THP, but not that of progesterone, correlated with the loss and the recovery of righting reflex. ⋯ Following progesterone infusion brain level of THP in SKF 105111 pretreated rats was 12% that of vehicle-treated control, and the level of progesterone was 160%. No effect of SKF 105111 on brain THP level was detected in animals infused with THP. These results demonstrate that anesthetic effect of progesterone is mediated through its conversion to THP and support the hypothesis that endogenous metabolites of progesterone may be involved in the regulation of behavior in rats.