Effects of Testosterone Propionate upon the Sexual and Aggressive Behavior of Adult Male Marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus) Castrated as Neonates
In New World monkeys of the family Callitrichidae (marmosets and tamarins), females frequently give birth to dizygotic twins. Twins share a placental circulation throughout fetal development and are hemopoietic chimeras. Despite this, there is no masculinization (freemartinism) in females which deve...
Saved in:
Published in | Hormones and behavior Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 216 - 230 |
---|---|
Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Amsterdam
Elsevier Inc
01.06.1993
Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | In New World monkeys of the family Callitrichidae (marmosets and tamarins), females frequently give birth to dizygotic twins. Twins share a placental circulation throughout fetal development and are hemopoietic chimeras. Despite this, there is no masculinization (freemartinism) in females which develop next to a male co-twin. It has been suggested that the organizing effects of testicular androgen upon sexual differentiation of the brain occur mainly during early postnatal development in male callitrichids, rather than
in utero. However, this report demonstrates activation of masculine copulatory behavior by testosterone propionate (TP) administered to adult male marmosets (
N = 8) which were castrated in infancy (between Days 1-7). Effects of neonatal castration upon aggressive behavior during pair tests with females (high frequencies of aggression) anti intact adult males (low frequencies of aggression) were also reversed by TP treatment in adulthood. While early postnatal androgen secretion plays an important role in behavioral development in marmosets, it appears that a substantial degree of neural sexual differentiation occurs
in utero in males of this callitrichid species. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0018-506X 1095-6867 |
DOI: | 10.1006/hbeh.1993.1016 |