Freire-Arvelo Jaime A, Rivero Carlos J, Santiago-Marrero Iván G, Mendez-Morales Andrea, González-Segarra Amanda J, Pérez-Cardona Enrique U, Torres-Ramirez Ricardo J, Segarra Annabell C
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, P.O. Box 365067, San Juan, 00936-5067, Puerto Rico.
Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 26;15(1):33205. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17890-6.
Nandrolone, is an anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) used by adolescents and young adults. Supraphysiologic doses of AAS are correlated with dysfunctions in anxiety and reward. This study examined whether exposure to nandrolone before puberty altered anxiety- and addictive-like behaviors. Dopamine type 2 receptors (D2DR) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were also analyzed. Beginning on day 28 and ending on day 37, male rats received a daily injection of nandrolone decanoate (20 mg/kg) and were subsequently evaluated for anxiety. Their locomotor response (sensitization) and preference (conditioned place preference (CPP) to cocaine (15 mg/kg) were also assessed. Nandrolone reduced anxiety and ambulation, accelerated the development of sensitization to cocaine, and reduced CPP to cocaine by 27%. Expression of D2DR in the NAc and the PFC of males was increased by nandrolone, whereas treatment with cocaine reduced accumbal D2DR. We hypothesize that nandrolone accelerated the development of the neural circuitry that participates in behavioral sensitization and reduced the rewarding properties of cocaine. The observed increase in accumbal D2DR may have potentially mediated the reduction in anxiety and ambulation and hastened the maturation of the neural circuitry responsible for the sensitized response to cocaine.
诺龙是一种合成代谢雄激素类固醇（AAS），被青少年和年轻人使用。超生理剂量的AAS与焦虑和奖赏功能障碍相关。本研究考察了青春期前接触诺龙是否会改变焦虑样行为和成瘾样行为。同时还分析了伏隔核（NAc）和内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）中的多巴胺2型受体（D2DR）。从第28天开始至第37天结束，雄性大鼠每天注射癸酸诺龙（20毫克/千克），随后评估其焦虑情况。还评估了它们的运动反应（敏化）和对可卡因（15毫克/千克）的偏好（条件性位置偏好（CPP））。诺龙减轻了焦虑和活动能力，加速了对可卡因敏化的发展，并使对可卡因的CPP降低了27%。诺龙增加了雄性大鼠NAc和PFC中D2DR的表达，而可卡因治疗则降低了伏隔核中的D2DR。我们推测，诺龙加速了参与行为敏化的神经回路的发育，并降低了可卡因的奖赏特性。观察到的伏隔核D2DR增加可能潜在地介导了焦虑和活动能力的降低，并加速了负责对可卡因敏化反应的神经回路的成熟。
