Abstract
The androgenic adrenal steroids dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and 4α-androstenedione (4-A) have significant biological activity, but it is unclear if the behavioral effects are unique or only reflections of the effects of testosterone (TS). Gonadally intact male Long-Evans rats were assigned to groups to receive supplements of DHEA, 4-A, TS, corticosteroid (CORT), all at 400 µg steroid/kg of body weight, or vehicle only for 5 weeks. All males were tested in a paradigm for sexual motivation that measures time and urinary marks near an inaccessible receptive female. It was found that DHEA and 4-A supplements failed to influence time near the estrous female in the same way TS supplements did, and, indeed, 5 weeks of 4-A administration reduced the time similar to the suppressive effects of CORT after 3 weeks. Further, animals treated with DHEA or 4-A left fewer urinary marks near an estrous female than TS and control groups. These results suggest that DHEA and 4-A are not merely precursors of sex hormones, and provide support for these steroids influencing the brain and behavior in a unique fashion that is dissimilar from the effects of TS on male sexual behavior.
Highlights
IntroductionHave significant biological activity, yet the nature of their significance, especially in the brain, remains uncertain
The androgenic adrenal steroids dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and 4α-androstenedione (4-A)have significant biological activity, yet the nature of their significance, especially in the brain, remains uncertain
A repeated measures 5 × 3 ANOVA on the time near the receptive female in the sexual motivation paradigm revealed a significant interaction of drug and week (F8,110 = 9.336, p = 0.001)
Summary
Have significant biological activity, yet the nature of their significance, especially in the brain, remains uncertain These steroids’ direct effects on behavior have yet to be thoroughly explained, in contrast to the extensive research on the behavioral consequences of the androgen testosterone (TS), a potent sex steroid. Effects of similar use of DHEA and 4-A have not yet been adequately elucidated Because these adrenal steroids are precursors of TS it remains possible, as was originally suspected, that their effects will be similar, if not identical, to those of TS. In this view, DHEA and 4-A are substrates for the sex steroids which initiate activity by binding the androgen receptor (TS and dihydrotestosterone (DHT)) or estrogen receptors (estradiol (E2))
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