Social influences on the arginine vasotocin system are independent of gonads in a sex-changing fish.

ABSTRACT: Many neuropeptide systems subserving sex-typical behavior are dependent on sex steroids for both their organization early in life and activation during maturity. The arginine vasopressin/vasotocin (AVP/AVT) system is strongly androgen dependent in many species and critically mediates responses to sociosexual stimuli. The bluehead wrasse is a teleost fish that exhibits a female-to-male sex change in response to social cues, and neither the development nor the maintenance of male-typical behavior depends on the presence of gonads. To examine social and gonadal inputs on the AVP/AVT system in the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus, we conducted three field experiments. In the first experiment, we found that AVT mRNA abundance is higher in sex-changing females that attain social dominance

SUBMITTER: Semsar K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6741075 | biostudies-literature | 2003 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature