Testosterone increases analgesia, anxiolysis, and cognitive performance of male rats

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2001 Dec;1(4):371-81. doi: 10.3758/cabn.1.4.371.

Abstract

Preliminary evidence suggests that testosterone (T) may have anxiety-reducing and cognitive-enhancing properties in animals and people. Performance in a number of affective and cognitive behavioral tasks was examined in intact, T-depleted, and T-depleted and T-replaced male rats. Rats that were gonadally intact (n = 33), gonadectomized (GDX; n = 30), or GDX with silastic capsules of T implanted (n = 28) were tested through a battery of affective tasks (horizontal crossing, open field, elevated plus-maze, emergence, holeboard, social interaction, tailflick, pawlick, and defensive burying) and in the inhibitory avoidance task for cognitive performance. An additional 6 rats per group had plasma androgen concentrations measured and were determined to be physiological for intact rats, supraphysiological for T-implanted rats, and near the nadir for GDX rats. Testosterone implants produced analgesia as shown by the increased tailflick latencies of the GDX rats with silastic capsules of T implanted, relative to intact or GDX rats. Testosterone also produced anxiolysis. Intact rats spent more time interacting with a conspecific and less time burying an electrified prod than did the GDX or T-implanted rats. Intact rats or GDX rats with T implants also spent more time on the open arms of the elevated plus-maze than did GDX rats. Testosterone also enhanced cognitive performance in the inhibitory avoidance task. Intact rats had longer crossover latencies in the inhibitory avoidance task relative to GDX rats; GDX rats with T implants had longer crossover latencies relative to GDX or intact rats. Together, these data demonstrate that endogenous T or administration of T produced analgesia and enhanced affect and cognitive performance of adult male rats.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arousal / drug effects*
  • Arousal / physiology
  • Behavior, Animal / drug effects*
  • Behavior, Animal / physiology
  • Cognition / drug effects*
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Fear / drug effects
  • Fear / physiology
  • Male
  • Orchiectomy
  • Pain Threshold / drug effects*
  • Pain Threshold / physiology
  • Rats
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Testosterone / pharmacology*
  • Testosterone / physiology

Substances

  • Testosterone