title: Adolescent anabolic/androgenic steroids: Aggression and anxiety during exposure predict behavioral responding during withdrawal in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).
abstract: In the U.S. and worldwide anabolic/androgenic steroid use remains high in the adolescent population. This is concerning given that anabolic/androgenic steroid use is associated with a higher incidence of aggressive behavior during exposure and anxiety during withdrawal. This study uses pubertal Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) to investigate the hypothesis that an inverse behavioral relationship exists between anabolic/androgenic steroid-induced aggression and anxiety across adolescent exposure and withdrawal. In the first experiment, we examined aggression and anxiety during adolescent anabolic/androgenic steroid exposure and withdrawal. Adolescent anabolic/androgenic steroid administration produced significant increases in aggression and decreases in anxiety during the exposure period followed by significant decreases in aggression and increases in anxiety during anabolic/androgenic steroid withdrawal. In a second experiment, anabolic/androgenic steroid exposed animals were separated into groups based on their aggressive response during the exposure period and then tested for anxiety during exposure and then for both aggression and anxiety during withdrawal. Data were analyzed using a within-subjects repeated measures predictive analysis. Linear regression analysis revealed that the difference in aggressive responding between the anabolic/androgenic steroid exposure and withdrawal periods was a significant predictor of differences in anxiety for both days of testing. Moreover, the combined data suggest that the decrease in aggressive behavior from exposure to withdrawal predicts an increase in anxiety-like responding within these same animals during this time span. Together these findings indicate that early anabolic/androgenic steroid exposure has potent aggression- and anxiety-eliciting effects and that these behavioral changes occur alongside a predictive relationship that exists between these two behaviors over time.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychology, 125 Nightingale Hall, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Lesley A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Melloni
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects*; D045930:Anabolic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000728:Androgens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D006224:Cricetinae; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000187:drug effects*; D013256:Steroids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D045930:Anabolic Agents; D000728:Androgens; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D013256:Steroids
keywords: Adolescence; Aggression; Anabolic/androgenic steroids; Anxiety