Physical provocation of pubertal anabolic androgenic steroid exposed male rats elicits aggression towards females

Rebecca L. Cunningham, Marilyn Y. McGinnis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

A rat model used to evaluate and find whether anabolic androgen steroid (AAS) potentiated aggression towards female rat and conditions under which this occurs were investigated. An animal study to investigate AAS-nduced aggression towards female rats where male rats exposed to AAS during puberty were allowed to interact with females in three states of sexual receptivity. The goals of this experiment was to identify conditions under which AAS-treated males exhibit aggression towards females. This study demonstrates that perturbal exposure of males to chronic high doses of the AAS, testosterone, increases aggression towards females, and the enhanced aggression occurs only in response to provocation and in the presence of unreceptive females. Understanding and recognizing the predictive factors are expected to be useful in preventing AAS-induced aggression within the human population by the use of cognitive therapies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)410-416
Number of pages7
JournalHormones and Behavior
Volume50
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2006

Keywords

  • AAS
  • Adolescence
  • Dominance
  • Mounting behavior
  • Puberty
  • Sex behavior
  • Stanozolol
  • Tail pinch
  • Testosterone
  • Violence

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