The Anxiolytic and Antidepressant-like Effects of Testosterone and Estrogen in Gonadectomized Male Rats.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While the influence of testosterone levels on vulnerability to affective disorders is not straightforward, research suggests this hormone may confer some degree of resiliency in men. We recently demonstrated a role for the dentate gyrus in mediating testosterone's protective effects on depressive-like behavior in gonadectomized male rats. Here, testosterone may exert its effects through androgen receptor-mediated mechanisms or via local aromatization to estradiol.

Methods

Gonadectomized male rats were implanted with a placebo, testosterone, or estradiol pellet, and subsequent protective anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects of testosterone and its aromatized metabolite, estradiol, were then investigated in the open field and sucrose preference tests, respect

SUBMITTER: Carrier N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4501899 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature