Hormones and Behavior

Alison Bell
Animal Biology
University of Illinois

Todays lecture
Hormones
What are they?
Where are they made?
What do they do?

Hormones and behavior

Organization-activation
Relative plasticity hypothesis

In utero and parental effects

Challenge hypothesis

Hormones: What are they?

Chemical substances, formed in a specialized
gland or group of cells, released into the blood
that affect target cells in another organ.

Distinct from:
Neurotransmitters, substances
released by neurons that are
received by adjacent neurons &
alter their membrane potential.
Pheromones, substances
released by an individual as scent
signals for another.

Hormones: What are they?

Chemically, they can be:
Lipids (e.g. steroids such
as testosterone)
Peptides/proteins (e.g.
vasopressin)
Amines/other small
molecules (e.g.
epinephrine)

Testosterone

Hormones: Where are they made?

Peripherally
Endocrine glands, e.g. adrenal gland, thyroid
gland
Gonads, e.g. testes, ovaries

Centrally
Neurohormones are produced within the
brain, but travel to target via bloodstream
e.g. hypothalamus, neurosteroidogenic cells

Hormones: What do they do?

Nonsteroid hormones: cant enter cell

Steroid hormones: pass right through

Many physiological effects: regulation of reproduction,

growth, osmotic balance, heart rate, etc.
In the brain: influence neuronal responsiveness, or
activity of certain genes within the neuron, thus altering
the biochemistry of the brain to alter behavior

Hormone regulation:
Important vertebrate pathways
Hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG)

Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)

Hormone regulation:
Synthesis and metabolism

Bells and whistles:

Receptors
Plasma binding proteins
Enzymes

How to study hormones?

Remove the gland
Add hormone
Measure circulating levels
Block receptor

Sexual Behavior: Females

Estradiol and mice
OVX mice: eliminates
female sexual
behavior (lordosis)
Can be restored by
treatment with
estradiol followed by
progesterone

Estradiol

Sexual Behavior: Males

Red deer stag
Sept/Oct become
aggressive, begin courting
females
Testes generate sperm
and release testosterone
Castrated males do not
fight or mate
Testosterone implants
restore behavior

Hormones
If a male and female ring dove are
placed in a cage containing a bowl and
nesting material, and kept in simulated
spring, they will initiate the following
sequence:
bow and coo display, where the
male bows and coos to the female
select a nest site, marked by the
female sitting on it
build the nest takes one week
copulate during nest building
female lays eggs, 2 eggs over 2
days
incubate the eggs takes two weeks
the young hatch and the parents feed
the young by producing a crop milk
and regurgitating it for the young
takes two weeks
initiate sequence again

Behavior

Role of progesterone
Lehrman 1964

Important point
Many shared
mechanisms, BUT
mechanisms often
differ between
species/groups
Different selection
pressures result in
modifications of the
hormonal mechanisms
of behavior
Hunt et al 1995

Modes of Hormone Action

Activational effects
Short-term, reversible effects that occur in the fully
developed organism (e.g. alteration of transmission
in neural networks that respond to certain aspects of
the environment)

Organizational effects
Long-term, irreversible effects on tissue
differentiation and development (e.g. brain, ovary)
that can either directly (brain) or indirectly (ovary)
influence behavior

Critical or sensitive period

Activational Effect
Oxytocin and maternal
behavior in mice
Pre-maternal mice fear
pups and will attack them
Oxytocin injections induce
maternal behavior

Another activational example

Oxytocin and
maternal behavior in
sheep
Stimulation of birth
canal during parturition
results in oxytocin
release in brain
Oxytocin injections
cause non-pregnant
females to accept
alien lambs in 30
seconds!

Dolly the sheep and her

surrogate mom

Organizational Effect
Sexual differentiation via
exposure to steroids during
development
Figure 1. Sexual dimorphisms in the brain.
(a,b) The sexually dimorphic nucleus of the
preoptic area (SDN-POA) is larger in male rats
(a) than in females (b) because the testes
secrete testosterone during the perinatal
sensitive period. After that time, testosterone
has little effect on SDN-POA volume. (c,d) In
contrast, the volume of the rat posterodorsal
medial amygdala (MePD), which is about 1.5
times larger in males (c) than in females (d),
retains its responsiveness to testosterone
throughout life. (e,f) In zebra finches, the
robustus archistriatum (RA) nucleus is crucial for
song production and has a greater volume in
males (e) than in females (f). Like the rat SDNPOA, exposure to steroid hormones early in life
is essential for the RA to develop a masculine
phenotype. For the RA, however, the steroids
may not originate from the testes, but are
rather synthesized locally in the brain itself.
SCN, suprachiasmatic nucleus; 3V, third
ventricle; ot, optic tract. All scale bars = 250
mum. Morris et al 2004

Applying organization-activation theory to

alternative phenotypes
The relative plasticity hypothesis
Alternative phenotypes within-sex
variation in phenotype (morphology,
behavior), e.g. sneakers vs territorial
males
Fixed: individual permanently,
irreversibly differentiated into one or
the other type and doesnt change
phenotype during lifetime, e.g. satellite
vs territorial ruffs, hooknose or jack
salmon
Plastic: individual can change
phenotype, e.g. calling vs intercepting
frogs depending on local conditions
Moore et al 1998

The relative plasticity hypothesis

Moore et al 1998

Effects of exposure to hormones on

behavioral development
Mice and aggressiveness
Subtle differences in the
hormonal environment
during embryonic
development influence
adult behavior
E.g. Males: 2M more
aggressive later on.
E.g. Females: 2M more
aggressive (correlated with
territory size as adults)
Vom Saal et al

Another interesting way in

which developing embryos
are exposed to hormones
Gil et al 1999, zebra finches

Females mated to
relatively attractive males
deposited more
testosterone in their eggs
compared to females
mated to unattractive
males
The differential allocation hypothesis (Burley 1988)

Testosterone in male birds

What explains the dynamics (change

over time) of T?

Costs of T
Aggression

T
Parental behavior
Level of behavior

The challenge
hypothesis
In species where males provide direct
parental care (feed the chicks), males
should increase T only when needed,
e.g. when challenged, but then return T
to level B. In contrast, in species where
males do not provide direct parental care
and spend most of their time defending
the territory, males should have high,
relatively unchanging, levels of T.
Wingfield et al 1990

Closer to home: hormones

and human behavior
Undoubtedly, hormones involved in organizing
and activating human sexual behavior
What about unique human behaviors?

Testosterone and aggression

Some studies find higher T in
CSF of aggressive males
Meta-analysis of 45 studies:
weak, positive correlation
between T & aggressiveness
May be more related to
dominance
Serotonin may be more important
in aggression

Ritualized aggression?
Men experience a surge in T after
team/individual wins in sports
World Cup soccer fans show
increased T if their team wins