Regulation of risky decision making by gonadal hormones in males and females.

ABSTRACT: Psychiatric diseases characterized by dysregulated risky decision making are differentially represented in males and females. The factors that govern such sex differences, however, remain poorly understood. Using a task in which rats make discrete trial choices between a small, "safe" food reward and a large food reward accompanied by varying probabilities of footshock punishment, we recently showed that females are more risk averse than males. The objective of the current experiments was to test the extent to which these sex differences in risky decision making are mediated by gonadal hormones. Male and female rats were trained in the risky decision-making task, followed by ovariectomy (OVX), orchiectomy (ORX), or sham surgery. Rats were then retested in the task, under both baseline cond

SUBMITTER: Orsini CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8027379 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature