Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Division of Social Sciences, Oxford College of Emory University, 801 Emory Street, Oxford, GA 30054, USA.
Horm Behav. 2023 Nov;156:105436. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105436. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
A growing body of literature suggests that testosterone (T) rapidly modulates behavior in a context-specific manner. However, the timescales in which T can rapidly mediate distinct types of behavior, such as pro- vs. anti- social responses, has not been studied. Thus, here we examined acute T influences on social behavior in male and female Mongolian gerbils in nonreproductive contexts. Females and males received an injection of either saline or T and were first tested in a social interaction test with a same-sex, familiar peer. 5 min after the peer interaction, subjects then underwent a resident-intruder test with a novel, same-sex conspecific. After another 5 min, gerbils were tested in a novel object task to test context-specificity (i.e., social vs. nonsocial) of T effects on behavior. Within 1 h, males and females injected with T exhibited more huddling with a peer but more active avoidance of and less time spent in proximity of an intruder than did animals injected with saline. T effects on behavior were specific to social contexts, such that T did not influence investigation of the novel object. Together these findings show that T rapidly promotes pro-social responses to a familiar peer and anti-social responses to an intruder in the same individuals within 5 min of experiencing these disparate social contexts. This demonstrates that T rapidly facilitates behavior in a context-appropriate manner outside the context of reproduction and reveals that rapid effects of T on behavior are not restricted to males.
越来越多的文献表明，睾酮（T）能以特定于情境的方式快速调节行为。然而，T 能够快速调节不同类型行为（如亲社会与反社会反应）的时间尺度尚未得到研究。因此，我们在这里研究了雄性和雌性蒙古沙鼠在非生殖环境中 T 对社会行为的急性影响。雌性和雄性接受盐水或 T 的注射，首先在有同性熟悉同伴的社会互动测试中进行测试。在与同伴互动 5 分钟后，研究对象随后在与陌生的、同性同物种的个体的“居民-入侵者”测试中进行测试。另外 5 分钟后，沙鼠在新物体任务中进行测试，以测试 T 对行为的影响的情境特异性（即社会与非社会）。在 1 小时内，注射了 T 的雄性和雌性与同伴拥抱的次数更多，但回避和接近入侵者的次数更少，在入侵者附近花费的时间也更少。T 对行为的影响是特定于社会环境的，即 T 不会影响对新物体的调查。这些发现表明，T 能在 5 分钟内快速促进个体对熟悉同伴的亲社会反应和对入侵者的反社会反应，即使在经历这些不同社会环境的情况下也是如此。这表明 T 能快速以适当的情境方式促进行为，而不仅仅局限于生殖环境。
