N. D. Martensz

Beta-endorphin concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid of monkeys are influenced by grooming relationships

Social relationships are integral to the behaviour of many mammalian species. Primates are unusual in that their social relationships are extensive within groups, which often contain many reproductively active males and females. Several hypotheses have been forwarded to explain the ultimate causation of primate sociality. While attention has focused on grooming as a proximate factor influencing social relationships, the neural basis of such behaviour has not been investigated in monkeys. This report presents changes in the brains opioid system contingent on grooming in monkeys. Opiates themselves have a feedback interaction with grooming behaviour, as revealed from the administration of opiate agonists and antagonists. Opiate receptor blockade increases the motivation to be groomed, while morphine administration decreases it. These data support the view that brain opioids play an important role in mediating social attachment and may provide the neural basis on which primate sociality has evolved.

Annual reproductive rhythms in mammals: mechanisms of light synchronization.

Animals restrict the time of birth of offspring to the most advantageous time of year, usually spring or summer. This is achieved by controlling the preceding period of fertility and, in some cases, by delaying implantation of the zygote. Seasonal changes in daylength, the principal, though not the only cue, regulate pulsatile release of hypothalamic releasing factors that in turn activates the pituitary-gonadal axis. The role of the neuroendocrine system is therefore to translate the photoperiodic stimulus into an endocrine signal (Figure 12). The measurement of day length is a function of the circadian system, environmental light being sampled on a 24-hour basis. Experimental manipulations of the photoperiodic response have revealed the existence of a rhythm of sensitivity to the presence of light that is entrained by the prevailing photoperiod. Light falling within the period of maximal sensitivity results in an LD type response. It is important to note that although different species measure day length in a similar manner, the gonadal response to a given photoperiod will vary between species depending upon the nature of their seasonal reproductive strategy. Photic information is conveyed from the retina to the pineal gland by way of the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus and the cervical sympathetic trunk. The central connections between these structures are poorly understood. The pineal is an essential mediator of the photoperiodic response. The effects of pinealectomy vary between species, but in all cases the responses to changes in day length are blocked. The gland is neither anti- nor progonadotrophic; it merely provides a signal. This signal is probably the nocturnal release of melatonin. Studies on in vivo melatonin production and the responses of photoperiodic species to timed administration of exogenous melatonin have suggested that the duration of nocturnal melatonin production by the pineal is read by the CNS as an indicator of the length of darkness. This model for PTM provides a physiological basis to the observed rhythm of sensitivity to light. This period of sensitivity is probably a parallel to the nocturnal rhythm of melatonin production. Light falling in this phase blocks melatonin production, truncates the pineal signal, and hence produces an LD response by the CNS. The site of the signal detector is not known, although the anterior hypothalamus may be involved. How the pineal signal triggers changes in the hypothalamic LHRH pulse generator is not known. The endogenous opioids, however, especially beta-END may have a major role in exercising photoperiodic control over pituitary action.

β-Endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of male talapoin monkeys in social groups related to dominance status and the luteinizing hormone response to naloxone

beta-Endorphin-like immunoreactivity was measured in the cerebrospinal fluid of 20 male talapoin monkeys living in mixed-sex social groups. It was shown that beta-endorphin was the major immunoreactive peptide; there was no evidence for high molecular weight precursors, or for either N-acetyl or C-shortened metabolites. Dominant males (those at the top of the social hierarchy) had lower levels of beta-endorphin than those of intermediate rank; subordinate males had higher levels than either of the other two ranks--about three times those measured in dominants. There were significant negative correlations between beta-endorphin in cerebrospinal fluid and both the amount of aggression given and sexual behaviour shown towards females. The response of the hypothalamo-pituitary system to opiate blockade was tested by giving the males naloxone in doses of 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg and assaying serum levels of luteinizing hormone 20 min later. Dominant males released significant amounts of luteinizing hormone at doses of 0.25 and higher; there was no release in either intermediate or subordinate monkeys at any dose. These findings show that an animals rank in the social group in which it lives is strongly correlated with beta-endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, and with changes in the neuroendocrine response to opiate blockade. Altered opiate neural activity may be responsible for the depressed levels of sexual behaviour and gonadal function observed in monkeys at the bottom of the hierarchy.

The effects of castration, testosterone replacement and photoperiod upon hypothalamic β-endorphin levels in the male syrian hamster

Syrian hamsters kept in long day-lengths have active gonads and high circulating levels of gonadal steroids. Under the influence of the pineal gland, animals exposed to short photoperiods undergo testicular regression, have low circulating levels of testosterone and gonadotrophins and elevated levels of beta-endorphin within the hypothalamus. This paper describes the interaction between testosterone and photoperiod in the regulation of beta-endorphin levels in three regions of the hypothalamus. Hypothalamic beta-endorphin levels were measured by a combination of high-performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay techniques that allows separation of the beta-endorphin (1-31) peptide from its metabolites and precursors. All of the beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus of the male hamster, in both photoinhibited and photostimulated conditions, was found to represent the 31-amino-acid peptide. In photostimulated hamsters, chronic castration was associated with a significant increase of beta-endorphin levels in the anterior hypothalamus and mediobasal hypothalamus, which was reversed by treatment with exogenous testosterone. Castration prevented the ability of naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist, to release luteinizing hormone, and this effect was also reversed by exogenous steroid. In photoinhibited hamsters, however, castration had no effect upon beta-endorphin levels in the preoptic area or mediobasal hypothalamus, and there was only a small increment in the anterior hypothalamus. Significantly, beta-endorphin levels in all areas of the hypothalamus of photoinhibited castrates were not decreased by testosterone treatment. In addition, administration of exogenous testosterone did not restore sensitivity to naloxone in these animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Serum and CSF concentrations of testosterone and LH related to negative feedback in male rhesus monkeys.

Testosterone and LH concentrations were studied in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 8 adult male rhesus monkeys. All males were initially intact and 7 were subsequently castrated and implanted with an ascending series of testosterone capsules. In 4 of the males, serum testosterone levels were significantly higher at 21.00 h than at 09.00 h when the monkeys were intact. Following castration of these 4 males, 4-10 testosterone capsules produced serum concentrations similar to those previously found at 09.00 h; levels equivalent to those at 21.00 h were attained with 12-14 capsules. The proportion of unbound testosterone in serum represented 2% of total serum concentrations, but increased to 4% at high serum concentrations (12-14 capsules). In contrast, the proportion of unbound testosterone in CSF represented 100% of CSF levels. The levels of testosterone in CSF remained at values equal to 2-3% of total serum concentrations throughout the study. The levels of unbound serum testosterone and testosterone levels in the CSF were similar throughout the study in 3 of the 4 monkeys. In the fourth animal, supraphysiological serum testosterone levels occurred with 12 and 14 implants, and, at this time, the level of testosterone in CSF was less than the concentrations of unbound testosterone in serum. Following an intravenous bolus injection of testosterone, the steroid rapidly entered CSF when either 6 or 14 capsules were in place. Although the clearance of testosterone was similar within either compartment during both treatments, the half-life of testosterone in CSF was significantly shorter than in serum at high serum concentrations (14 capsules). Serum and CSF LH levels rose rapidly after castration, reaching maximal levels 8-12 days later with CSF LH levels consistently representing 2-3% of serum concentrations. Post-castration LH concentrations did not change until nocturnal testosterone levels were reached (12-14 capsules), when LH levels were suppressed in both serum and CSF. Subsequent reduction of serum testosterone levels (to 6 capsules) maintained the low LH concentrations. Seemingly, high testosterone concentrations in either serum or CSF, equivalent to nocturnal levels in intact males, were required to initiate LH suppression, but not to maintain it.

HORMONES AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN RHESUS AND TALAPOIN MONKEYS

Passive immunization of ovariectomized, oestrogen-treated female rhesus monkeys against testosterone reduced proceptivity and receptivity, effects partially reversed by subsequent treatment with 17α-methyltestosterone. These results lend support to the view that adrenal androgens, notably testosterone, are important determinants of sexual behaviour in this female primate. Neither induced hyper-prolactinaemia, nor LHRH with or without the dopamine agonist apomorphine consistently altered the sexual activity of male rhesus monkeys. In social groups of talapoin monkeys data are presented which demonstrate the dramatic effects that modifying the social group has on both behaviour and endocrine status of individual members of that group.