Agonistic behavior in males and females: Effects of an estrogen receptor beta agonist in gonadectomized and gonadally intact mice

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:35

Article

Allen, Amy E. Clipperton¹  Cragg, Cheryl L.²  Wood, Alexis J.³  Pfaff, Donald W.⁴  Choleris, Elena¹ 

[1] Univ Guelph, Dept Psychol, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

[2] Univ Guelph, Dept Biomed Sci, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

[3] York Univ, Fac Environm Studies, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada

[4] Rockefeller Univ, Neurobiol & Behav Lab, New York, NY 10065 USA

关键词: Dominance;    Social interactions;    Aggression;    Sex differences;    WAY-200070;    Estrogen receptor beta (ER beta);   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.01.002

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Affiliative and agonistic social interactions are mediated by gonadal hormones. Research with estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) or beta (ER beta) knockout (KO) mice show that long-term inactivation of ER alpha decreases, while inactivation of ER beta increases, male aggression. Opposite effects were found in female alpha ERKO and beta ERKO mice. The role of acute activation of ER alpha or ER beta in the agonistic responses of adult non-KO mice is unknown. We report here the effects of the ERR selective agonist WAY-200070 on agonistic and social behavior in gonadally intact and gonadectomized (gonadex) male and female CD-1 mice towards a gonadex, same-sex intruder. All 15 min resident-intruder tests were videotaped for comprehensive behavioral analysis. Separate analyses assessed: (1) effects of WAY-200070 on each sex and gonadal condition; (2) differences between sexes, and between gonadally intact and gonadex mice, in untreated animals. Results show that in gonadally intact male and female mice, WAY-200070 increased agonistic behaviors such as pushing down the intruder and aggressive grooming, while leaving attacks unaffected. In untreated mice, males attacked more than females, and gonadex animals showed less agonistic behavior than same-sex, gonadally intact mice. Overall, our detailed behavioral analysis suggested that in gonadally intact male and female mice, ER beta mediates patterns of agonistic behavior that are not directly involved in attacks. This suggests that specific aspects of aggressive behavior are acutely mediated by ERR in adult mice. Our results also showed that, in resident-intruder tests, female mice spend as much time in intrasexual agonistic interactions as males, but use agonistic behaviors that involve extremely low levels of direct attacks. This non-attack aggression in females is increased by acute activation of ERR. Thus, acute activation of ER beta similarly mediates agonistic behavior in adult male and female CD-1 mice. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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