Oxytocin differentially affects sucrose taking and seeking in male and female rats

Autor: Luyi Zhou, Shannon M. Ghee, Ronald E. See, Carmela M. Reichel
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Male
sex differences
endocrine system
medicine.medical_specialty
Sucrose
media_common.quotation_subject
Self Administration
Motor Activity
Oxytocin
Locomotor activity
Article
Extinction
Psychological
Rats
Sprague-Dawley
Eating
03 medical and health sciences
Behavioral Neuroscience
chemistry.chemical_compound
0302 clinical medicine
Dietary Sucrose
Internal medicine
Repetition Priming
medicine
Animals
Motor activity
030304 developmental biology
Decreased motor activity
media_common
Appetitive Behavior
Psychotropic Drugs
Sex Characteristics
0303 health sciences
Dose-Response Relationship
Drug
sucrose
reinstatement
Dose–response relationship
female
Endocrinology
chemistry
Exploratory Behavior
Conditioning
Operant
Sucrose intake
Cues
Reproduction
Psychology
hormones
hormone substitutes
and hormone antagonists
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
medicine.drug
Zdroj: Behavioural brain research
ISSN: 0166-4328
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.01.050
Popis: Oxytocin has a modulatory role in natural and drug reward processes. While the role of oxytocin in pair bonding and reproduction has been extensively studied, sex differences in conditioned and unconditioned behavioral responses to oxytocin treatment have not been fully characterized. Here, we determined whether male and female rats would show similar dose response curves in response to acute oxytocin on measures of locomotor activity, sucrose seeking, and sucrose intake. Male and freely cycling female rats received vehicle or oxytocin (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg, IP) injections before behavioral tests designed to assess general motor activity, as well as sucrose self-administration and seeking. Lower doses of oxytocin decreased motor activity in a novel environment in females relative to males. Likewise, lower doses of oxytocin in females decreased responding for sucrose during maintenance of sucrose self-administration and reinstatement to sucrose-conditioned cues. However, sucrose seeking in response to a sucrose prime was only decreased by the highest oxytocin dose in both sexes. In general, oxytocin had similar effects in both sexes. However, females were more sensitive to lower doses of oxytocin than males. These findings are consistent with the notion that oxytocin regulates many of the same behaviors in males and females, but that the effects are typically more profound in females. Therapeutic use of oxytocin should include sex as a factor in determining dose regimens.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: