title: Female-biased anorexia and anxiety in the Syrian hamster.
abstract: Anorexia and anxiety cause significant mortality and disability with female biases and frequent comorbidity after puberty, but the scarcity of suitable animal models impedes understanding of their biological underpinnings. It is reported here that in adult or weanling Syrian hamsters, relative to social housing (SH), social separation (SS) induced anorexia characterized as hypophagia, weight loss, reduced adiposity, and hypermetabolism. Following anorexia, SS increased reluctance to feed, and thigmotaxis, in anxiogenic environments. Importantly, anorexia and anxiety were induced post-puberty with female biases. SS also reduced hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing factor mRNA and serum corticosteroid levels assessed by RT-PCR and RIA, respectively. Consistent with the view that sex differences in adrenal suppression contributed to female biases in anorexia and anxiety by disinhibiting neuroimmune activity, SS elevated hypothalamic interleukin-6 and toll-like receptor 4 mRNA levels. Although corticosteroids were highest during SH, they were within the physiological range and associated with juvenile-like growth of white adipose, bone, and skeletal muscle. These results suggest that hamsters exhibit plasticity in bioenergetic and emotional phenotypes across puberty without an increase in stress responsiveness. Thus, social separation of hamsters provides a model of sex differences in anorexia and anxiety during adulthood and their pathogeneses during adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Shannonhouse
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Li An
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Bryan L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Clossen
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Ross E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Hairgrove
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, United States.
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: York
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Hercules
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Lauren M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Mertesdorf
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Margi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States; Department of Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, United States. Electronic address: camorgan@tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Caurnel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D000855:Anorexia / Q000209:etiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D015982:Bias; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004435:Eating; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D012737:Sex Factors; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D015850:Interleukin-6; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone
keywords: Corticosteroids; Corticotropin-releasing factor; Cytokines; Metabolism; Social stress