Alterations in the anterior hypothalamic dopamine system in aggressive adolescent AAS-treated hamsters

Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) treatment throughout adolescence facilitates offensive aggression in male Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). The present study was conducted to investigate the role of the dopaminergic system in the modulation of AAS-induced aggressive behavior. Hamsters were administered AAS during adolescence, scored for offensive aggression using the resident-intruder paradigm, and then examined for alterations in DA immunoreactivity in brain regions implicated in the aggressive phenotype, including the anterior hypothalamus (AH), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), the medial and central amygdala (MeA and CeA), the lateral septum (LS) and the ventrolateral hypothalamus (VLH). When compared with non-aggressive sesame-oil-treated controls, aggressive AAS-treated animals showed increased tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in anterior hypothalamic subnuclei, namely the nucleus circularis (NC) and medial supraoptic nucleus (mSON). In addition, AAS-treated animals showed altered D(2) receptor expression in the AH and the VLH, as measured by D(2)-immunoreactivity. Together these results suggest that alterations in DA synthesis and function together with modifications in D(2) receptor expression in the AH may underlie neuroplastic events which facilitate AAS-induced aggression.