Melloni R H, Connor D F, Hang P T, Harrison R J, Ferris C F
Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Physiol Behav. 1997 Mar;61(3):359-64. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(96)00373-3.
Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) abuse by adolescents represents a significant health care risk due to the potential for long-term negative physical and psychological sequelae, including increased aggressive behavior. The current experiments examined the effects of AAS use in young male adolescent hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and their consequences on aggressive behavior. It was hypothesized that AAS administration during adolescence predisposes hamsters to heightened levels of aggressive behavior (i.e., offensive aggression). To test this hypothesis adolescent male hamsters were administered high doses of synthetic AAS to mimic a 'heavy use' self-administration regimen used by athletes. Immediately following the exposure to AAS hamsters were tested for aggressive behavior using a resident-intruder model. Animals treated with high doses of AAS during their adolescent development showed heightened measures of offensive aggression i.e., decreased latency to bite and increased total number of attacks and bites) during the test period, while measures of total activity (total contact time) between the animals remained unchanged. AAS-treated males did not differ in body weight from controls, suggesting that the increased aggression was not due to increased body mass. The results of this study show that exposure to AAS during adolescence facilitates aggressive response patterns, but does not alter body weight.
青少年滥用合成代谢雄激素类固醇（AAS）存在重大的健康风险，因为可能会导致长期负面的生理和心理后遗症，包括攻击性行为增加。当前的实验研究了AAS对年轻雄性青春期仓鼠（金黄仓鼠）的影响及其对攻击行为的后果。研究假设青春期给予AAS会使仓鼠的攻击性行为水平升高（即进攻性攻击）。为了验证这一假设，对青春期雄性仓鼠给予高剂量的合成AAS，以模拟运动员使用的“大量使用”自我给药方案。在接触AAS后，立即使用定居者-入侵者模型测试仓鼠的攻击行为。在青春期发育期间接受高剂量AAS治疗的动物在测试期间表现出更高的进攻性攻击指标（即咬的潜伏期缩短，攻击和咬的总数增加），而动物之间的总活动量（总接触时间）指标保持不变。接受AAS治疗的雄性仓鼠体重与对照组无差异，这表明攻击行为增加并非由于体重增加。本研究结果表明，青春期接触AAS会促进攻击反应模式，但不会改变体重。
