Anabolic androgenic steroid affects social aggression and fear related behaviours in male pair-housed rats

• This study examines the effect of chronic administration of the anabolic andro-genic steroid nandrolone decanoate (ND) on dominant and subdominant male rats in a pair-housed condition. Pair-housed animals were assessed for domi-nance status based on their behaviour and alterations in body weights. Through-out the study the animals were allowed limited interactions on a daily basis. At all other times, a Plexiglas divider kept the animal separated, allowing olfactory and visual contact between the cage mates while preventing significant physical contact. One week into the pair-housed condition subjects were subcutaneously implanted with a pellet that continuously infused ND (15mg/kg/day) or placebo for 21 days. Following the pellet implant, several behavioral tests including reas-sessment for dominance status, open-field activity, defensive reactivity and a conditioned fear test were conducted over a period of approximately 2 months. The main finding is that during the allowed social interactions, the dominant ND-pretreated animals spent more time on highly aggressive behaviour than the dominant placebo-treated animals. In addition, the probability for highly aggres-sive behaviour was maintained for the ND-treated animals throughout the study, whereas it was decreased for the placebo-treated animals. The subdominant ND-treated animals were less fearful in a potential threatening situation. These find-ings support the relatively long-term behavioral changes that have been seen in humans after abuse of ND and other anabolic androgenic steroid compounds.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Anabolic androgenic steroids

aggression

fear

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