Plasticity in anterior hypothalamic vasopressin correlates with aggression during anabolic-androgenic steroid withdrawal in hamsters.

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Abstract
In hamsters, adolescent anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) exposure facilitates offensive aggression, in part by altering the development and activity of anterior hypothalamic arginine vasopressin (AH-AVP). This study assessed whether these effects were lasting by examining aggression and AH-AVP during AAS withdrawal. Adolescent hamsters administered AAS were tested as adults for aggression at 1, 4, 11, 18, or 25 days of withdrawal, sacrificed the following day, and examined for AH-AVP afferent innervation using immunohistochemistry. Through Day 12 of withdrawal, aggression and AVP were significantly higher in AAS-treated hamsters than in controls. These differences were no longer observable by Day 19 of withdrawal, at which point the behavior and neurobiology of AAS-treated hamsters reverted to that observed in controls. These data indicate that adolescent AAS exposure has short-term, reversible effects on both aggression and AH-AVP, correlating AH-AVP with the aggres- sive/nonaggressive behavioral phenotype during AAS withdrawal. Studies from the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimate that nearly half million 8th and 10th grade students are using anabolic- androgenic steroids (AASs) in the United States each year (NI- DACapsules, 2005). Reports indicate that AAS use has remained relatively stable in this population with 1.3% of male 8th graders, 2.3% of male 10th graders, and 3.3% of male 12th graders report- ing use in 2004 (NIDACapsules, 2005). This pattern of abuse is important, because the onset of AAS use during adolescence is correlated with more frequent and heavier use later in life despite