Aggressive behavior in female golden hamsters: development and the effect of repeated social stress

Taravosh-Lahn, Kereshmeh; Delville, Yvon

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.03.007

Cited by 61 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…We interpret these data to mean that males that lost maintained a stronger fear-avoidance response than females. These data support recent findings by Huhman et al (2004) showing that adult females fail to exhibit conditioned defeat and results from Taravosh-Lahn & Delville (2004), indicating that females were less affected by repeated defeat than males were. Our results were obtained in very different conditions than the studies of conditioned defeat; the fear/avoidance response in females was lost despite the conditions in which they were tested, namely that subjects were tested with the same stimulus animal and in the same environment where previous agonistic encounters took place.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Females have been shown to develop adult-like attack styles earlier in life than males and they are less affected by early social defeat than males are. These data suggest that sex differences in aggression and responses to agonistic encounters are present early in life (Taravosh-Lahn and Delville, 2004). Previous studies with adult hamsters, however, showed no sex differences in measures of aggressive behavior in like-sex encounters (Floody & Pfaff, 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 43%

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Dominant–subordinate relationships in hamsters: Sex differences in reactions to familiar opponents

Bath

Johnston

2007

Hormones and Behavior

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In the majority of mammalian species, males are dominant over and more aggressive than females. In contrast, some reports suggest that female golden hamsters are more aggressive than males but systematic comparisons using the same methods for both sexes are rare. We observed same-sexed pairs of hamsters over repeated trials to assess whether sex differences existed in the level of agonistic behavior and in the development and maintenance of dominant-subordinate relationships with familiar partners. There were no sex differences in measures of agonistic behavior or fear responses (fleeing) during the initial series of three trials on the first day of testing. Following a four-day interval, males that had lost in session 1 showed fearful responses to a familiar dominant male and were not likely to engage in a fight with him. In contrast, females that lost the initial fights were not fearful and fought vigorously with the familiar winner in subsequent encounters. Although the amount of agonistic behavior engaged in by females did decrease over the course of the three sessions, females that lost did not demonstrate an increase in fear, as measured by the latency to flee. Males that lost fights did show increased fear during later trials and sessions. These results suggest that female hamsters are less affected by losing fights than males are and thus that females are less likely than males to develop highly polarized dominant-subordinate relationships. Further work is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these sex differences.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 43%

Dominant–subordinate relationships in hamsters: Sex differences in reactions to familiar opponents

Bath

Johnston

2007

Hormones and Behavior

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“…The attack frequency compared across test dates showed a significant peak of attack frequency on P-35 followed by a gradual decrease throughout puberty Taravosh-Lahn & Delville, 2004;Wommack et al, 2003). This decrease in agonistic behavior during puberty concurred with previous studies in golden hamsters (Goldman & Swanson, 1975).…”

Section: Development Of Agonistic Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The behavioral data collected for this study were comprised from previously videotaped and analyzed experimental sets from three previous experiments in our laboratory and described below Taravosh-Lahn & Delville, 2004;Wommack et al, 2003). Within 2 days of weaning, male hamsters were first observed for a few seconds in the presence of an adult animal to test for inherent fearfulness.…”

Section: Behavioral Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By late puberty and early adulthood (P-55 to P-70), attacks become focused on the lower belly and rump (Pellis & Pellis, 1988a,b;Wommack et al, 2003). Quantitatively, the frequency of attacks, bites, and pins as well as the duration of contact time peak during early puberty around P-35 and then decrease gradually until stabilization in late puberty around P-55 (Cervantes, David, Loyd, & Delville, 2005;Goldman & Swanson, 1975;Taravosh-Lahn & Delville, 2004;Wommack et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterization of offensive responses during the maturation of play‐fighting into aggression in male golden hamsters

Cervantes

Taravosh-Lahn

Wommack

et al. 2006

Developmental Psychobiology

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In hamsters, the maturation of aggression during puberty is associated with a gradual reduction of offensive responses. The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes during this decrease to provide an enhanced description of the behavior. During early puberty, play-fighting is characterized by long and continuous contact duration throughout the encounter and repetitive attacks within bouts of agonistic interaction. By mid-puberty, adult patterns of offensive behavior emerge. Contact time becomes shorter in duration and shifts to the beginning of the test, while attacks become less repetitive per bout. In late puberty, animals show an enhanced efficiency of behavior, as indicated by an increased percentage of attacks followed by bites. This study provides a better understanding of the development of aggression by characterizing the differences between juvenile play-fighting and adult aggression and the process of the maturation of aggression. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 87-97, 2007.

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Animal Models of Developmental Psychopathology

Howell

Neigh

Sánchez

2016

Developmental Psychopathology

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In the last decade much progress has been made in research using animal models of developmental psychopathology. The field has moved from the demonstration of long‐term impacts of early adversity on behavioral and physiological development and the role of genetic risks for vulnerability, to including transgenerational transmission of stress‐induced phenotypes through epigenetic modifications. Additional and critical paradigm shifts have also taken place, including increased focus on ecologically and ethologically valid animal models, research on resilience, the adolescent transition as a period of brain and behavioral reorganization, and sex differences. In this chapter we review recent literature using rodent and nonhuman primate animal models that examines the biological mechanisms through which the early environment programs neurobehavioral, cognitive, and physiological development. We discuss the evolutionary role of this plasticity on behavioral development, as it has an adaptive value in changing environments. Because of maternal care's critical role in early environment, we focus on models that study the effects of mother–infant relationship disruption and dissect the mechanisms by which maternal care regulates the development of brain circuits that control emotional and social behaviors of relevance for developmental psychopathology. Finally, we discuss developmental sensitive/critical periods as windows of opportunity for plastic adaptation of developing organisms to the environment that, if taken too far—as in the case of early traumatic experiences such as childhood maltreatment—lead to maladaptive developmental trajectories (psychopathology, pathophysiology). Animal models of early life adversity are paramount to understand the basic mechanisms and principles that translate early experience into developmental outcomes in our own species.

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Aggressive behavior in female golden hamsters: development and the effect of repeated social stress

Cited by 61 publications

References 30 publications

Dominant–subordinate relationships in hamsters: Sex differences in reactions to familiar opponents

Dominant–subordinate relationships in hamsters: Sex differences in reactions to familiar opponents

Characterization of offensive responses during the maturation of play‐fighting into aggression in male golden hamsters

Animal Models of Developmental Psychopathology

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