Li Jay-Shake, Huang Yi-Chen
Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Min-Hsiung, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC.
Behav Brain Res. 2006 Nov 25;175(1):176-82. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2006.08.020. Epub 2006 Sep 18.
Higher testosterone level in males is one of the most obvious possibilities for the development of a clear gender difference in ADHD. The present study focused on the influence of excessive androgen exposure in the developmental stage on the hyperactivity feature of ADHD. The study used the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) as an animal model. The amount of locomotion activity previously used as an over-activity measure in the SHR has resulted in a complicated picture. While the general activity level of SHR was significantly higher than its progenitor-the Wistar Kyoto rat (WKY), comparative differences with the Wistar rat could be observed only under certain experimental conditions. The present study applied the scaling approach to assess open field behaviors from a qualitative aspect. Although SHR and Wistar rats showed similar locomotion amounts, movement patterns differed significantly, as indicated by the spatial scaling exponent. Androgen treatment during the early postnatal developmental stage significantly increased total path lengths only in the male SHR. Effects of the hormone manipulation were not expressed in the scaling measurement. The scaling approach conclusively provides a different aspect of open field behaviors and also reacts differently as the total path length to excessive early testosterone exposure.
男性体内较高的睾酮水平是多动症出现明显性别差异的最显著可能性之一。本研究聚焦于发育阶段雄激素暴露过多对多动症多动特征的影响。该研究使用自发性高血压大鼠（SHR）作为动物模型。此前在SHR中用作过度活动衡量指标的运动活动量呈现出复杂的情况。虽然SHR的总体活动水平显著高于其亲本——Wistar Kyoto大鼠（WKY），但只有在特定实验条件下才能观察到与Wistar大鼠的比较差异。本研究应用标度法从定性方面评估旷场行为。尽管SHR和Wistar大鼠的运动总量相似，但空间标度指数表明，它们的运动模式存在显著差异。出生后早期发育阶段的雄激素处理仅在雄性SHR中显著增加了总路径长度。激素操纵的影响在标度测量中未表现出来。标度法最终提供了旷场行为的不同方面，并且作为对早期过多睾酮暴露的总路径长度，其反应也有所不同。
