Sakata Jon T, Gupta Ajay, Gonzalez-Lima F, Crews David
Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
Horm Behav. 2002 Nov;42(3):263-73. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.2002.1829.
In male vertebrates the display of courtship behavior depends on the presence of testicular androgens. However, social experiences in adulthood can alter the hormonal dependence of courtship behavior in a variety of species, and we have previously proposed that these behavioral changes are linked to changes in neural metabolic capacity (cytochrome oxidase activity). Here we investigated the effects of prior social experience (housing with females vs housing in isolation) on the retention of courtship behavior following gonadectomy and on cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity in male little striped whiptail lizards, Cnemidophorus inornatus. In Experiment 1, we found that males that were previously housed with females (HWF males) continued to display courtship behavior longer after castration than males previously housed in isolation (ISOLATE males). This is similar to the behavioral plasticity found in rodents and cats. On the other hand, courtship behavior while gonadally intact was indistinguishable between HWF and ISOLATE males. Because all males were housed individually following castration, the difference is due to different social experiences prior to castration. In Experiment 2, we found that gonadally intact HWF males had significantly elevated CO activity in the preoptic area, amygdala, and anterior and ventromedial hypothalamic areas relative to intact ISOLATE males. No significant differences in metabolism were found in the lateral septum, lateral hypothalamus, and habenula or in hindlimb muscle, suggesting that the increase in metabolism is specific to brain nuclei involved in courtship behavior. Altogether, this demonstrates that elevations in metabolic capacity correlate with experience-dependent increases in robustness to castration.
在雄性脊椎动物中，求偶行为的表现取决于睾丸雄激素的存在。然而，成年后的社会经历可以改变多种物种求偶行为对激素的依赖性，我们之前曾提出，这些行为变化与神经代谢能力（细胞色素氧化酶活性）的变化有关。在这里，我们研究了先前的社会经历（与雌性同居与单独饲养）对雄性细纹鞭尾蜥（Cnemidophorus inornatus）去势后求偶行为保留以及细胞色素氧化酶（CO）活性的影响。在实验1中，我们发现，先前与雌性同居的雄性（HWF雄性）在去势后继续表现求偶行为的时间比先前单独饲养的雄性（隔离雄性）更长。这与在啮齿动物和猫中发现的行为可塑性相似。另一方面，在性腺完整时，HWF雄性和隔离雄性之间的求偶行为没有区别。由于所有雄性在去势后都是单独饲养的，这种差异是由于去势前不同的社会经历造成的。在实验2中，我们发现，相对于完整的隔离雄性，性腺完整的HWF雄性在视前区、杏仁核、下丘脑前部和腹内侧区的CO活性显著升高。在外侧隔区、外侧下丘脑和缰核或后肢肌肉中未发现代谢有显著差异，这表明代谢增加是特定于参与求偶行为的脑核的。总之，这表明代谢能力的提高与去势耐受性的经验依赖性增加相关。
