Competitive experience activates testosterone-dependent social aggression toward unfamiliar males

Abstract

Male hooded rats (350 to 450 g) were castrated and given subcutaneous implants of testosterone-filled or empty Silastic tubes. Four weeks later, half of the animals with testosterone implants were housed with an animal with an empty implant and left for 6 weeks. The other animals were adapted to a food-deprivation schedule, housed in testosterone-implant/sham-implant pairs and given a series of food-competition tests. Following the competition tests, all animals were observed individually in their living cage for aggression toward an unfamiliar intruder. Within the competitive situation, animals with testosterone implants were more aggressive and more successful at maintaining access to food than their cagemates with sham implants. In the unfamiliar intruder test, animals with testosterone implants that had been subjected to food competition were more aggressive toward an unfamiliar intruder than were animals with testosterone implants that had not been given competitive experience. Animals with testosterone implants given competitive experience were more aggressive than their castrated cagemates, but animals with testosterone implants not given competitive experience were not more aggressive than their cagemates. These results demonstrate that testosterone-dependent social aggression fostered by a competitive situation is elicited by an unfamiliar male intruder. They also confirm other evidence that activation of social aggression does not appear to require increased testicular testosterone secretion.