Effect of androgen supplementation on 24-hour activity-rest patterns of aged male rhesus macaques

Like elderly men, old male rhesus macaques show attenuated circulating levels of testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and many of them also show reduced levels of daytime activity. It is unclear, however, if this age-associated behavioral change is causally related to the underlying decrease in circulating androgen levels. To test this possibility, old male rhesus macaques were given daily supplements of testosterone and DHEA for 6 months, designed to mimic the mean 24-hour circulating hormone patterns of young adults. Compared with the young adults, the old controls showed attenuated daytime activity levels. However, there was no difference between the androgen-supplemented old animals and the aged-matched controls, even after 6 months of treatment. The data suggest that age-associated decreases in circulating androgen levels are unlikely to be a primary reason for altered activity-rest patterns in elderly men, and that androgen supplementation paradigms might not provide any obvious therapeutic benefit.