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At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Alcohol, aggression and the stress of subordination.

In individual resident-intruder or novel arena confrontations alcohol enhancement of aggression appears less robust than when groups of animals receive the drug. Patterns of effects in the latter situations, such as enhanced attack on familiar animals, particularly familiar females, suggest that group living engenders attack inhibitions, perhaps based on enhanced anxiety/defensiveness, that may be overcome by alcohol. Male rats living in natural, mixed-sex groups in seminatural situations develop strong dominance-subordination relationships that appear to strongly stress subordinates. Subordinate males show strongly and chronically increased defensive behaviors, increased corticosterone and reduced testosterone levels and, often, early mortality. When allowed access to both alcohol and water, they increase voluntary alcohol consumption, in comparison to dominants. Analyses of relationships between voluntary consumption and defensive behaviors support a view that the voluntary consumption increases of subordinate rats are mediated by the anxiolytic effect of alcohol in highly stressed animals.

Aggression↗
PubMed1996

Psychosocial stress in tree shrews: clomipramine counteracts behavioral and endocrine changes.

Male tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) provide an animal model to study the neurobehavioral consequences of chronic psychosocial stress. When living in visual and olfactory contact with a male conspecific by which it has been defeated, the subordinante tree shrew shows dramatic behavioral, physiological, and neuroendocrine changes. Because the over all pattern of these changes resemble a depression-like symptomatology, we investigated to what extent the behavioral and endocrine changes in subordinate animals can be reversed by treatment with the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine. In the present study, animals were subjected to a 10-day period of psychosocial conflict to elicit stress-induced behavioral and endocrine alterations before the onset of drug treatment, and psychosocial stress continued throughout the treatment period of 30 days. Clomipramine was administered orally once daily at a dose of 50 mg/kg. The drug had a time-dependent restorative influence on marking and grooming behavior, locomotor activity, risk assessment, as well as on urinary cortisol and norepinephrine excretion. It, thus, appears that the clomipramine treatment counteracts the behavioral and endocrine effects of chronic psychosocial stress in tree shrews, and the time course of recovery corresponds closely to that observed when treating depressed patients in the clinic.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A transactional analysis of biobehavioral systems.

The system of behavior [B] consists of those transactional interrelationships between organism [O] and environment [E] that govern their commerce. The biological significance of such [O]-[E] interrelationships, their truing through learning, as well as those systems involved in the subordinate and superordinate regulation of behavior, are clear when life, itself, is seen as an emergent property of the [O]-[E] complex. In addition, a systems view of these hierarchically organized complexities suggests that they adaptively self-stabilize and self-organize, over time, as they participate in [L], the organism-environment complex. Such a transactional analysis of biobehavioral systems resonates well with the most basic axioms of Pavlov's paradigm.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Behavior and physiology of social stress and depression in female cynomolgus monkeys.

The hypothesis that social subordination is stressful, and results in a depressive response in some individuals, was examined in socially housed female cynomolgus monkeys. Social status was manipulated such that half of the previously subordinate females became dominant and half of the previously dominant females became subordinate. Current subordinates hypersecreted cortisol, were insensitive to negative feedback, and had suppressed reproductive function. Current subordinates received more aggression, engaged in less affiliation, and spent more time alone than dominants. Furthermore, they spent more time fearfully scanning the social environment and displayed more behavioral depression than dominants. Current subordinates with a history of social subordination were preferentially susceptible to a behavioral depression response. The results of this experiment suggest that the stress of social subordination causes hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and ovarian dysfunction, and support the hypothesis that chronic, low-intensity social stress may result in depression in susceptible individuals.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The pathogenicity of behavior and its neuroendocrine mediation: an example from coronary artery disease.

Although it is frequently hypothesized that perturbations of the body's principal axes of neuroendocrine response, especially the sympathetic-adrenomedullary and pituitary-adrenocortical systems, mediate psychosocial influences on disease, evidence directly supporting this hypothesis is sparse at best and, for most disease entities, nonexistent. In this article, we illustrate a research strategy aimed at elucidating the role of behavior in disease pathogenesis by focusing on a single pathologic process--disease of the coronary vasculature--and emphasizing experimental evidence linking such disease to both behavior and sympathoadrenal activation in nonhuman primates. In cynomolgus monkeys, it is found that several psychosocial variables, e.g., social instability, behavioral dominance (in males), and subordination (in females), promote coronary atherogenesis, either independently or in interaction. Animals exhibiting a heightened cardiac responsivity to stress (reactions of probable sympathetic origin) also develop the most extensive coronary lesions and beta-adrenoreceptor blockade prevents the behavioral exacerbation of atherosclerosis. Social stress causes injury to arterial endothelium (also preventable by adrenoreceptor blockade) and, among chronically stressed animals, impairs endothelium-dependent vasomotor responses of the coronary arteries. It is suggested that similar research programs might elucidate the influence of behavior and neuroendocrine factors on the pathogenesis of other disease states and conditions, including susceptibility to infection.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Endocrine correlates of rank, reproduction, and female-directed aggression in male Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).

Fecal testosterone and cortisol levels in six wild male Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), three of high rank and three of low, were analyzed to investigate the hormonal correlates of rank, reproduction, and female-directed aggression. The study encompassed the 6-month mating season, from October 1999 to March 2000, during which time 251 fecal samples and approximately 550 h of behavioral data were collected. Dominant males were not found to differ from subordinate males in overall rates of aggressive or copulatory behavior. Likewise, testosterone excretion, which peaked in the early part of the mating season and declined gradually thereafter, did not differ significantly by rank. High-ranking males, however, were observed to excrete significantly higher levels of cortisol than low-ranking males, suggesting that dominance may carry costs. The two hormones were found to be inversely correlated in the two most dominant males, but independent in all others. Rate of noncontact aggression was significantly correlated with testosterone, while no significant relationships were observed between testosterone and contact aggression nor any aspect of copulatory behavior. These data further support the contention that social subordinance and stress are not inexorably linked, as well as suggest that elevated glucocorticoid concentrations in high-ranking males may reflect increased metabolic costs associated with dominant male reproductive strategy.

Aggression↗
PubMed2005

Hepatic corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) messenger RNA expression and plasma CBG concentrations in young pigs in response to heat and social stress.

Plasma cortisol, porcine corticosteroid-binding globulin (pCBG), hepatic CBG expression, and other physiological and behavioral measures of stress were studied in pigs in response to elevated temperature in conjunction with establishing a social hierarchy. Twenty-four crossbred pigs were weaned at 25 d of age (three or six pigs from six sows) and housed in littermate groups at 23 +/- 2 degrees C. At 57 d of age (d 0), animals were weighed and placed under general anesthesia for collection of blood (10 mL) and liver (approximately 100 mg) samples. On d 1, three unacquainted pigs of similar BW (23 +/- 1 kg) from different litters were allotted to each of eight nursery pens within two environmentally controlled rooms (12 pigs per room). From d 1 to 7, one room was maintained at 23 +/- 2 degrees C (CON) and the other at 33 +/- 2 degrees C (HEAT). Both rooms were kept at 23 +/- 2 degrees C from d 8 to 14. Animals were videotaped for 72 h beginning on d 1 and 8 to document behavioral changes in response to room temperature. The social hierarchy of pigs within each pen was based on fight activity recorded on d 1 to 3. Blood and liver tissue were collected again on d 7 and 14. The ADG for HEAT pigs increased (P < 0.05) over d 8 to 14 compared with d 1 to 7. In contrast to CON pigs, HEAT pigs displayed increased (P < 0.01) drinking but decreased feeding and lying in contact with other pigs from d 1 to 3, and similar drinking and feeding but increased (P < 0.01) lying with contact behaviors from d 8 to 10. With the exception of subordinate pigs exhibiting less (P < 0.05) frequent standing/walking behavior than the dominant or intermediate pigs on d 1 to 3, frequency of behaviors for both recorded time periods did not differ among pigs due to social status, regardless of treatment. The concentration of plasma haptoglobin in HEAT pigs on d 7 compared with d 0 increased (467 vs. 763 mg/L; P < 0.05), whereas cortisol and pCBG decreased (274 vs. 235 nmol/L and 11.4 vs. 9.9 mg/L, respectively; P < 0.05) as a result of treatment. The free cortisol index (total cortisol/pCBG) was greater (P < 0.05) in HEAT pigs on d 14 than on d 0 or 7. Hepatic CBG mRNA level was not affected by treatment. On d 14, HEAT pigs had plasma cortisol, pCBG, and haptoglobin concentrations similar to those of CON pigs. These results indicate that measured behavioral and physiological responses were not related to social status, and decreased circulating levels of cortisol and pCBG in pigs following a 7-d exposure to elevated temperature may not be determined by hepatic CBG mRNA expression.

Aggression↗
PubMed1999

Chronic psychosocial stress and antidepressant treatment in tree shrews: time-dependent behavioral and endocrine effects.

Social defeat has been shown to cause a number of behavioral, physiological, and central nervous changes in male tree shrews. The present study was designed to assess: (i) a potential time lag in the occurrence of behavioral alterations (locomotor activity, self-grooming, marking behavior, food and water intake, and avoidance behavior) after stress and long-term antidepressant treatment; and (ii) to investigate potential interactions between behavioral and endocrine variables (urinary cortisol and norepinephrine). Male tree shrews were submitted to chronic psychosocial stress for 39 days. In this paradigm, the stress-induced behavioral and endocrine alterations in subordinate animals are based exclusively on the central nervous interpretation of the continuous visual presence of the dominant conspecific. During the last 29 days of stress exposure, the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine was administered daily to the subordinate animals (50 mg/kg, p.o). Results from this group were compared with three other experimental groups: one group was just stressed, one group received only clomipramine, and one group only vehicle. To determine the time-dependent effects of psychosocial stress and clomipramine treatment, behavior was recorded immediately after and 9 h after daily social encounters. Depending on the observation time, significant differences between the effects of psychosocial stress and antidepressant treatment were found. Generally, the effect of stress on behavioral parameters tended to be less distinct immediately after the social encounter compared to the later observation time. Furthermore the drug had a time-dependent restorative influence on marking and grooming behavior, locomotor activity, avoidance behavior, as well as on urinary cortisol, and norepinephrine excretion. Correlation analysis revealed significant interdependencies between locomotor activity, marking behavior, and avoidance behavior on 1 day with cortisol and norepinephrine quantified in the morning urine of the following day. These findings indicate that experimental manipulations, stress, and psychotropic drug application have a time lag on bio-behavioral parameters which should be considered when studying animal behavior in response to stressors and/or to drug treatment.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Meta-analysis of the relationships between Kerr and Jermier's substitutes for leadership and employee job attitudes, role perceptions, and performance.

A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate more accurately the bivariate relationships between leadership behaviors, substitutes for leadership, and subordinate attitudes, and role perceptions and performance, and to examine the relative strengths of the relationships between these variables. Estimates of 435 relationships were obtained from 22 studies containing 36 independent samples. The findings showed that the combination of the substitutes variables and leader behaviors account for a majority of the variance in employee attitudes and role perceptions and a substantial proportion of the variance in in-role and extra-role performance; on average, the substitutes for leadership uniquely accounted for more of the variance in the criterion variables than did leader behaviors.

Employment↗
PubMed1991

Androgen control of social status in males of a wild population of stoplight parrotfish, Sparisoma viride (Scaridae).

In the protogynous stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride), large males defend territories that encompass the home-ranges of several mature females. However, high-quality habitat is in short supply, such that smaller, competitively inferior males do not defend territories. We investigated the role of 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) and testosterone (T) in the regulation of territorial behavior in a wild population of a protogynous reef fish, the stoplight parrotfish, at Glover's Reef, Belize. Radioimmunoassay of plasma samples from individuals of known social status revealed that nonterritorial males have lower levels of T and 11KT than territorial males. Nonterritorial males allowed access to vacant territories underwent pronounced increases in T and 11KT. When sampled 1 week after territory acquisition, levels of T and 11KT in new territorial males were significantly higher than the levels in established territorial males, but by 3 weeks after territory acquisition, there was no significant difference. We further investigated the hypothesis that such short-term increases in androgen levels are a response to intense male-male interactions during territory establishment. Simulated territorial intrusion promoted increased plasma levels of both T and 11KT while access to vacant territories without neighboring territorial males did not. These findings suggest that the endocrine system plays a role in fine-tuning the levels of territorial aggression exhibited by male stoplight parrotfish. We discuss these results in light of recent theory in behavioral endocrinology.

Androgens↗
PubMed1993

Differential effects of prior dominance or subordination experience on conspecific odor preferences in mice.

Preferences for the soiled bedding odors of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics were assessed among male mice rendered dominant or subordinate by a series of resident-intruder encounters. Alpha males preferred the odors of their familiar antagonist most strongly. Subordinates, in contrast, showed strongest preferences for unfamiliar females and a weaker preference for alpha odors. When female odors were eliminated from the preference test, alphas continued to show the strongest preference for familiar subordinate odors while subordinates displayed roughly equivalent preference for the odors of familiar alphas and unfamiliar males. It is suggested that the apparent mild preferences of subordinates for dominant conspecific odors reflects fear motivated risk assessment. In contrast, approaches of dominants to subordinate odors seems to be appetitively motivated. Generally recognizable subordination odors may be useful to unfamiliar males in recognizing exploitable resources.

Aggression↗
PubMed2001

Effects of aggression and wing removal on brain serotonin levels in male crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus.

When pairs of adult male crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) that had been housed individually for 7 days were placed together, they fought, and dominant-subordinate relationships were formed within 1min. Aggressive behavior by the dominant male was repeated during the period in which the two males were kept together. Immediately after 10min of aggressive interaction, brain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) levels were unchanged in dominant males and significantly reduced in subordinate males. The emission of aggressive song by dominant males is known to be abolished by removal of the wings. All wings were thus removed from male crickets. After 7 days of isolation, pairs of wingless males were placed together. The wingless males fought and formed dominant-subordinate relationships within 1min. The wingless, dominant males displayed aggressive behavior. Brain 5-HT levels in the wingless males were reduced immediately after 10min of aggressive interaction, and no significant differences in brain 5-HT levels were detected between the dominant and subordinate males, unlike the case for intact males. These data indicate a difference in brain serotonergic activity between dominant and subordinate male crickets during aggressive interaction, and suggest that aggressive behavior by dominant male crickets rapidly reduce brain 5-HT levels in subordinate ones. Furthermore, the data suggest that aggressive song is responsible for the change in brain 5-HT levels.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Serotonin reverses dominant social status.

Social stress from aggressive interaction is expressed differently in specific brain regions of dominant and subordinate male Anolis carolinensis. Prior to aggressive behavior, the outcome is predictable via the celerity of postorbital coloration: Dominant males exhibit more rapid eyespot darkening. Serotonergic activation is manifest rapidly (1 h) in hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and brainstem of subordinate males, and is expressed more rapidly in dominant males. Amygdalar serotonergic activation responds rapidly (1 h) in dominant males, but is expressed slowly (1 w) and chronically in subordinate males. We hypothesized that chronic (1 w) serotonin elevation, manipulated by the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor sertraline, would decrease aggressiveness and result in subordinate status. Dominant status was established in pairs of male A. carolinensis. The pairs were separated and treated with sertraline or vehicle. Sertraline was given in food to either the dominant or the subordinate male, both males or neither male for 1 week. Pairs were reintroduced, and behavior and social status recorded. When both dominant and subordinate males were treated with sertraline (or vehicle), or when subordinate males alone were treated with sertraline, previously established social relationships remained unchanged or became associative. However, when dominant males alone were treated with sertraline, their social status was reversed (43%) or negated (57%). Latency to eyespot darkening was significantly retarded in dominant males treated with sertraline, and aggressive displays and attacks were reduced. Chronic 5-HT elevation is consistent with subordinate status. Social status and aggressive disposition do not appear to be immutable, but may be changed by neuroendocrine mechanisms that mediate adaptation to environmental conditions like stress.

Aggression↗
PubMed1983

Impairment of social behavior in amygdalar cats.

Social dominance in predatory animals was tested before and after amygdala lesions. Cats after damage of dorsal part of amygdala did not show predatory behavior in group and lost their social rank in hierarchy, but in the same animals predatory attack remained unchanged in nonsocial situations. In the cat with medial amygdala lesions total abolishment of mouse-killing behavior was observed in both social and nonsocial situations. It has been concluded that amygdala plays an essential role in emotional-motivational mechanisms of predatory competitions as one of the forms of social behavior.

Amygdala↗