Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience, Developmental Exposure to Alcohol Research Center, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Feb 1;227(1):224-32. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.10.023. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Sex- and age-typical responses to ethanol and novel stimuli tend to emerge postpubertally, suggesting a potential organizational or activational role for pubertal hormones in these behaviors. To test this possibility, male and female rats were gonadectomized (GX) or received sham gonadectomy (SH) either prepubertally on postnatal day (P) 23 (early) or in adulthood on P70 (late). Animals were tested as adults for response to novelty and, on the following day, challenged with either saline or ethanol (1g/kg) prior to social interaction testing with an unfamiliar partner in a familiar setting under low light conditions. Gonadectomy did not influence ethanol-induced social inhibition in either sex, but instead altered the microstructure of social behavior, with GX animals exhibiting proportionally less time in social investigation and proportionally more time in contact behavior than SH animals, regardless of age of gonadectomy. The early sham surgical manipulation process itself influenced social motivation, with early SH surgery eliminating ethanol-induced decreases in social preference in both sexes. Response to novelty was unaffected by gonadectomy, but was suppressed in early compared to late SH manipulated animals. These results suggest that adult-typical responses to ethanol and novelty-directed behaviors are little influenced by gonadal hormones during puberty or in adulthood. However, the experience of surgical manipulation itself during development exerts behavioral and pharmacological consequences that last into adulthood.
性成熟和年龄相关的乙醇和新刺激反应往往在青春期后出现，这表明青春期激素在这些行为中可能具有组织或激活作用。为了验证这一可能性，雄性和雌性大鼠在青春期前（出生后第 23 天，早期）或成年期（第 70 天，晚期）进行了性腺切除术（GX）或假性腺切除术（SH）。成年后，动物对新奇刺激的反应进行了测试，第二天，在熟悉的光照条件下，与陌生的伙伴进行社交互动测试之前，用生理盐水或乙醇（1g/kg）对动物进行了挑战。性腺切除术对雌雄两性的乙醇诱导的社交抑制均无影响，但改变了社交行为的微观结构，无论性腺切除术的年龄如何，GX 动物的社交调查时间比例减少，接触行为时间比例增加。早期的假手术操作过程本身就影响了社交动机，早期的 SH 手术消除了乙醇诱导的雌雄两性的社交偏好降低。对新奇的反应不受性腺切除术的影响，但在早期与晚期的 SH 操作动物相比，其受到抑制。这些结果表明，成年期对乙醇和新奇导向行为的典型反应在青春期或成年期期间很少受到性腺激素的影响。然而，在发育过程中手术操作本身的体验会产生持续到成年期的行为和药理学后果。
