PMID- 23419048
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20131226
LR  - 20130528
IS  - 1365-2826 (Electronic)
IS  - 0953-8194 (Linking)
VI  - 25
IP  - 6
DP  - 2013 Jun
TI  - Perinatal testosterone exposure and maternal care effects on the female rat's 
      development and sexual behaviour.
PG  - 528-36
LID - 10.1111/jne.12035 [doi]
AB  - Natural variations in maternal care have profound influences on offspring 
      behaviour, brain activity and hormone release. Measuring the amount of time that 
      a rat dam spends licking/grooming (LG) her pups during their first week of life 
      allows for characterisation of distinctive Low, Mid and High LG phenotypes. We 
      have previously found that female offspring of High LG mothers are less sexually 
      receptive, less motivated to mate and show a later onset of puberty relative to 
      Low LG offspring. Given that High LG females are exposed to greater levels of 
      testosterone in utero, we hypothesise that differences in sexual behaviour 
      between High and Low LG female offspring are driven in part by differences in 
      prenatal hormone exposure. To test this hypothesis, pregnant dams 
      pre-characterised as Low, Mid, or High LG mothers were implanted with 
      testosterone or placebo on gestational day (GD) 16. Offspring body weight and 
      anogenital index were assessed at GD 21 and in adulthood. Age of vaginal opening 
      and oestrous cyclicity were assessed to determine the timing of pubertal onset. 
      Testosterone exposure removed the difference between LG phenotypes in pubertal 
      onset by delaying vaginal opening and the appearance of first pro-oestrus. In 
      adulthood, sexual behaviour in a paced mating chamber after sham surgery or 
      ovariectomy with steroid-replacement was examined. Our findings show that Low, 
      Mid and High LG female offspring are differentially affected by perinatal 
      testosterone exposure, and that this exposure removes the precocial pubertal 
      onset of Low LG offspring and increases the sexual proceptivity and receptivity 
      of High LG offspring. These results suggest that maternal programming of the 
      female reproductive system may be mediated, in part, through differences in 
      perinatal testosterone exposure, instead of solely through maternal behaviour.
CI  - (c) 2013 British Society for Neuroendocrinology.
FAU - Borrow, A P
AU  - Borrow AP
AD  - Psychology Department, Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience, 
      Binghamton University- SUNY, Binghamton, NY, USA.
FAU - Levy, M J
AU  - Levy MJ
FAU - Soehngen, E P
AU  - Soehngen EP
FAU - Cameron, N M
AU  - Cameron NM
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - J Neuroendocrinol
JT  - Journal of neuroendocrinology
JID - 8913461
RN  - 0 (Placebos)
RN  - 3XMK78S47O (Testosterone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Female
MH  - Male
MH  - *Maternal Exposure
MH  - Placebos
MH  - Pregnancy
MH  - *Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
MH  - Rats
MH  - Rats, Long-Evans
MH  - *Sexual Behavior, Animal
MH  - Sexual Maturation
MH  - Testosterone/*administration & dosage
EDAT- 2013/02/20 06:00
MHDA- 2013/12/27 06:00
CRDT- 2013/02/20 06:00
PHST- 2012/08/24 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/01/26 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2013/02/11 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/02/20 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/02/20 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/12/27 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/jne.12035 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Neuroendocrinol. 2013 Jun;25(6):528-36. doi: 10.1111/jne.12035.