Androgen Receptor and Vasopressin Receptor (AVPR1a) Genetic Polymorphisms are not associated with Marital Status or Fertility among Ariaal Men of Northern Kenya

Peter Gray,Dan Eisenberg,Benjamin Campbell

doi:10.1038/npre.2009.3208.1

Peter Gray, Dan Eisenberg + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3208.1

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Abstract

AbstractA growing body of scholarship implicates testosterone and vasopressin in male reproductive behavior, including in humans. Since hormones exert their effects through their respective receptors, an open question has been whether genetic polymorphisms in the androgen receptor and vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a) impact human male social behavior. Here, we sought to test for associations between polymorphisms in the coding region of the androgen receptor and promoter region of AVPR1a in relation to marital status and fertility among pastoralist Ariaal men of northern Kenya. None of the three polymorphisms were related to marital status (single, monogamously married, polygynously married) or fertility (number of current living children). We discuss these null findings in light of existing data.

Highlights

There has been rapidly growing interest and progress in identifying the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying animal social behavior (Adkins-Regan 2005)
The “Challenge Hypothesis” has oriented researchers toward the role of testosterone in facilitating male mating effort (Wingfield et al 1990), while research on vasopressin has been fueled by dramatic findings among voles demonstrating that variable forms of a receptor that binds vasopressin affect lab-based measures of male pair bonding and paternal care (Hammock and Young 2005)
A sizable and recent literature, stimulated by the “Challenge Hypothesis”, finds that human males involved in long-term relationships such as marriage and/or fatherhood commonly have lower testosterone levels

Summary

Introduction

There has been rapidly growing interest and progress in identifying the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying animal social behavior (Adkins-Regan 2005). Recent findings have highlighted the relevance of the steroid hormone testosterone and the peptide hormone vasopressin in the acquisition of mates and expression of paternal care. A sizable and recent literature, stimulated by the “Challenge Hypothesis”, finds that human males involved in long-term relationships such as marriage and/or fatherhood commonly have lower testosterone levels (reviewed in Gray and Campbell 2009). Such results have held among men in a number of North American samples, in Beijing, and among the Ariaal of northern Kenya. In a sample of Jamaican men engaged in paternal interactions, fathers‟ urinary vasopressin levels were negatively correlated with the age of their youngest child (Gray et al 2007)

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