Behavioral effects aggressive behavior

Behavioral effects Aggressive behavior, particularly when high doses are taken. Depression, mood swings, fatigue, restlessness, and loss of appetite when steroid abuse is stopped. 

Other studies indicate that sucrose does not cause hyperactivity. Carbohydrate ingestion increases levels of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), a brain neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation and sleep. Dietary sucrose should theoretically have a calming effect and reduce activity, manifestations which have been observed in case studies (63). To date, clinical investigations have failed to show a significant connection between sucrose consumption and aggressive or dismptive behavior (66). 

The effects of EDCs on behavior in fish have been more extensively studied than in birds. Examples of the effects of EDCs seen in fish include profound alterations in courtship behavior in male guppies (Poecilia reticulate) exposed to vinclozolin and DDE, including at environmentally relevant concentrations (Baatrup and Junge 2001) and altered courtship behavior in three-spined stickleback exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of EE2 (Bell 2001). In the stickleback studies, exposed males became less aggressive and had a reduced nesting activity, and this was linked with reduced concentrations of the male sex androgen 11-ketotestosterone. Recently,... 

The early report by Bradley (1937) on beneficial treatment effects with amphetamine in aggressive, destructive, irritable, and hyperactive boys was repeatedly eonfirmed by double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. Significant reductions in aggressive behavior and improvements in social interactions were found after treatment with 10 to 40 mg/day of d- or /-amphetamine for boys and girls, 5 to 14 years of age, who had been diagnosed as... 

Sequences of aggressive behavior that are composed of characteristic acts and postures following each other rapidly are disrupted. These disorganizing effects parallel the analysis of amphetamine effects on other intricately patterned behaviors such as feeding, maternal care, play behavior, or reproductive interactions. For example, amphetamine suppresses play... 

Ongoing experiments with methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) show a systematic dose-dependent decrease in attack and threat behavior in mice confronting an intruder into their homecage (Miczek et al., unpublished observations). The decrement in aggressive behavior appears to be behaviorally specific it is obtained at MDMA doses (0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg) that are lower than those necessary to decrease measures of conditioned performance under the control of schedules of positive reinforcement. Because of species-dependent neurotoxicity, MDMA s effects on aggressive behavior need to be explored in other species, including primates. 

ANTAGONISM OF AMPHETAMINE EFFECTS ON SOCIAL AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR... 

The most consistent and potent antagonism of amphetamine effects on increased motor activity and stereotyped movements is obtained with antagonists at dopamine receptors of the D2 subtype (Creese et al. 1982). This is not the case with amphetamine s disruptive effects on social and aggressive behavior. So far, no antagonists have been identified that reverse amphetamine s disruption of sexual, play, maternal, or aggressive behavior. 

These observations suggest differential mechanisms for the aggression-heightening effects of amphetamine as distinct from the disruptive actions on social and aggressive behavior. The neurobiological mechanisms for... 

Antagonism of several characteristic effects of amphetamine and cocaine by the alpha adrenergic receptor antagonist prazosin is a most recent example of noradrenergic mechanisms in the actions of psychomotor stimulants (Tessel and Barrett 1986). We investigated whether or not prazosin may attenuate the disruptive effects of amphetamine on social and aggressive behavior in mice and squirrel monkeys (Miczek, unpublished observations). Pretreatment with prazosin (0.4 mg/kg) attenuated the disruption of attack... 

In experiments with mice and squirrel monkeys, we confirmed and extended the antagonism of amphetamine-induced motor hyperactivity by naltrexone at the same time, however, amphetamine s disruption of aggressive and social behavior was not reversed by naltrexone (Winslow and Miczek, in press). Specifically, in mice, the resident s attack and threat behavior toward an intruder was even further reduced by amphetamine after naltrexone pretreatment (figure 7). Squirrel monkeys that are dominant within their social group exhibit significantly lower levels of aggressive display toward other group members and initiate fewer social interactions after amphetamine treatment naltrexone did not block these effects. The interactive effects of amphetamine and naltrexone on locomotor behavior are consistent with the proposed modulation of dopamine-mediated functions by opioids however, the interaction between amphetamine and naltrexone on social behavior appears to involve a different mechanism. 

Amphetamine may engender a dose-dependent biphasic effect on aggressive behavior in experimental situations, both with human and animal subjects, as, for example, in subjects that have habituated to an aggression-provoking stimulus. Most often, however, amphetamines disrupt social, sexual, maternal, and aggressive behavior patterns in a dose-dependent manner ... 

In fact, Cherek made that point in one of the very first studies. You cannot see further increases in monetary reinforced behavior. But you see a decline in aggressive behavior. And that is tme in other species and humans, too. So the most significant point is that the dismptive effects are due to the intmsion into the repertoires of other repetitive routines. 

Kostowski, W. A note on the effects of some psychotropic dmgs on the aggressive behavior in the ant, Formica rufa. J Pharm Pharmacol 18 747-749, 1966. 

Mukheijee, B.P., and Pradhan, S.N. Effects of lithium on foot shock-induced aggressive behavior in rats. Arch Int Pharmacodyn Ther 222 125-131, 1976. 

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