Hormonal response of male green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis) to GnRH challenge

Abstract

Circulating plasma levels of testosterone often differ among social classes of sexually mature males within a population, but the general physiological mechanisms underlying such differences remain unclear. Within sexually mature male green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis), smaller "lightweight" males have on average relatively smaller heads, lower bite-forces, and lower testosterone levels compared with larger "heavyweight" males. We conducted gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) challenges on lightweight and heavyweight males to determine if lightweight males were capable of producing comparable levels of circulating testosterone to heavyweight males but are socially or physiologically suppressed from doing so. We challenged lightweight and heavyweight males with chicken I and II GnRH and measured their resulting levels of testosterone and corticosterone. Neither lightweights nor heavyweights increased circulating testosterone levels after GnRH challenge, suggesting they are already at maximal production levels, consistent with the Challenge Hypothesis. Instead, testosterone levels tended to decrease and corticosterone levels increased, most likely owing to the stress response associated with handling. Our results are dramatically different from GnRH challenges conducted in bird species, suggesting that more field studies are needed in reptilian systems.