1. Female-biased anorexia and anxiety in the Syrian hamster.
- Author
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Shannonhouse JL, Fong LA, Clossen BL, Hairgrove RE, York DC, Walker BB, Hercules GW, Mertesdorf LM, Patel M, and Morgan C
- Subjects
- Adrenal Cortex Hormones blood, Animals, Body Weight physiology, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone genetics, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone metabolism, Cricetinae, Disease Models, Animal, Eating, Energy Metabolism, Exploratory Behavior, Female, Hypothalamus metabolism, Interleukin-6 genetics, Interleukin-6 metabolism, Male, Mesocricetus, Sex Factors, Social Isolation psychology, Toll-Like Receptor 4 genetics, Toll-Like Receptor 4 metabolism, Anorexia etiology, Anxiety etiology, Bias
- Abstract
Anorexia and anxiety cause significant mortality and disability with female biases and frequent comorbidity after puberty, but the scarcity of suitable animal models impedes understanding of their biological underpinnings. It is reported here that in adult or weanling Syrian hamsters, relative to social housing (SH), social separation (SS) induced anorexia characterized as hypophagia, weight loss, reduced adiposity, and hypermetabolism. Following anorexia, SS increased reluctance to feed, and thigmotaxis, in anxiogenic environments. Importantly, anorexia and anxiety were induced post-puberty with female biases. SS also reduced hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing factor mRNA and serum corticosteroid levels assessed by RT-PCR and RIA, respectively. Consistent with the view that sex differences in adrenal suppression contributed to female biases in anorexia and anxiety by disinhibiting neuroimmune activity, SS elevated hypothalamic interleukin-6 and toll-like receptor 4 mRNA levels. Although corticosteroids were highest during SH, they were within the physiological range and associated with juvenile-like growth of white adipose, bone, and skeletal muscle. These results suggest that hamsters exhibit plasticity in bioenergetic and emotional phenotypes across puberty without an increase in stress responsiveness. Thus, social separation of hamsters provides a model of sex differences in anorexia and anxiety during adulthood and their pathogeneses during adolescence., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2014
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