Hormones and behavior

Millions of people take hormonal contraceptives (HCs), often starting during adolescence when ovarian hormones influence brain and behavioral maturation. However, there is a fundamental lack of information about the neurobehavioral conseque…

Although the menopausal transition causes a panoply of unpleasant and disruptive symptoms, many women are reluctant to use estrogen-based treatments due to risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. As we learn more about how estr…

Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is a common step for treating infertile couples undergoing assisted reproductive technologies and in female fertility preservation cycles. In some cases, undergoing multiple COHs is required for cou…

Premenopausal hysterectomy is associated with a greater relative risk of dementia. We previously demonstrated cognitive impairments in adult rats six weeks after hysterectomy with ovarian conservation compared with intact sham-controls and …

In rodents, eating at atypical circadian times, such as during the biological rest phase when feeding is normally minimal, reduces fertility. Prior findings suggest this fertility impairment is due, at least in part, to reduced mating succe…

It is widely known that GnRH plays a role in facilitating reproductive function via the HPG axis, and this was once believed to be its only function. However, over the last several decades important neuromodulatory roles of GnRH in multiple…

Humans have disproportionately affected the habitat and survival of species through environmental contamination. Important among these anthropogenic influences is the proliferation of organic chemicals, some of which perturb hormone systems…

Hippocrates attributed women's high emotionality - hysteria - to a 'wandering womb'. Although hysteria diagnoses were abandoned along with the notion that displaced wombs cause emotional disturbance, recent research suggests that elevated l…

The present study was designed to assess the participation of estrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) in the short-term facilitation of lordosis behavior in ovariectomized (ovx), estradiol (E2) primed rats. In experiment 1, dose respo…

Phthalates, a ubiquitous class of environmental chemicals, may interfere with typical reproductive hormone production both in utero and in adulthood. Although they are best known as anti-androgens, increasingly, evidence suggests that phtha…

A historical perspective on estradiol's enhancement of cognitive function is presented, and research, primarily in animals, but also in humans, is reviewed. Data regarding the mechanisms underlying the enhancements are discussed. Newer stud…

When ovariectomized Fischer female rats are hormonally primed with 10 μg estradiol benzoate, a 5 min restraint experience rapidly inhibits lordosis behavior. Addition of progesterone to the hormonal priming prevents this restraint-induced i…

Ovariectomized rats were hormonally primed with various doses of estradiol benzoate (EB; 0.5-10 microg) in combination with various doses of progesterone (2.5-500 microg) to induce sexual receptivity. Females were then subjected to 5 min re…

A rat model of endometriosis, in which pieces of uterine horn (versus fat in controls) are autotransplanted into the abdomen where they form cysts, reduces fecundity and produces vaginal hyperalgesia. The cysts gradually enlarge over a 2-mo…

The aim of the study was to determine whether there is an increase in responsiveness to estrogen stimulation of maternal behavior and lordosis responsiveness during pregnancy. Using separate groups of pregnancy-terminated females, we measur…

Nitric oxide (NO) has been suggested to play a crucial role in the regulation of lordosis behavior via stimulation of guanylyl cyclase to synthesize cyclic GMP. Whalen and Lauber (1986, Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 10, 47-53) hypothesized that …

The effect of ovariectomy, hysterectomy, and cerviectomy on systemic oxytocin-PGE2 induced facilitation of lordosis behavior was examined in estrogen and progesterone treated rats. Females were injected with 0.25 micrograms estradiol benzoa…

Previous evidence indicates that the cholinergic muscarinic antagonist, scopolamine, inhibits lordosis in female rats. In the experiments reported here, the effects of various doses and repeated administrations of estrogen on the scopolamin…

The intravenous injection of several corticosteroids in the spayed estrogen-primed rat resulted, 5 min later, in a remarkable induction of lordosis response for deoxycorticosterone and 11-deoxycortisol. A lower but important effect was indu…

The effects of hysterectomy on proceptive behavior were investigated using several doses of estradiol benzoate (EB) and progesterone (P) in female rats. One week after surgery, ovariectomized (OV) and ovariectomized-hysterectomized (OH) rat…

The inhibitory effects of progesterone (P), 5 alpha-dihydroprogesterone (5 alpha-DHP), 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17-HP), and deoxycorticosterone (DOC) upon the rapid onset of maternal behavior induced during late pregnancy in primigravi…