ArticleNeuroscience2016
Anabolic-androgenic steroids decrease dendritic spine density in the nucleus accumbens of male rats.
Article in Neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuron soma size and density measurements in rat striatal regions disaggregated by sex and estrous cycle phase.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- Sex-Specific Concordance of Striatal Transcriptional Signatures of Opioid Addiction in Human and Rodent Brains.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Review
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- Neurosteroids and the mesocorticolimbic system.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Behavioral sex differences in cocaine and opioid use disorders: The role of gonadal hormones.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Review
- Perinatal activation of ERJournal of neurophysiology · 2021Article
- Neural and Hormonal Control of Sexual Behavior.Endocrinology · 2020Review
- Sex Differences and the Effects of Estradiol on Striatal Function.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2018Article
- Estrous cycle-induced sex differences in medium spiny neuron excitatory synaptic transmission and intrinsic excitability in adult rat nucleus accumbens core.Journal of neurophysiology · 2018Article
- Adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study: Overview of substance use assessment methods.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2018Review
- Biological Sex, Estradiol and Striatal Medium Spiny Neuron Physiology: A Mini-Review.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2018Review
- mGluR5 Mediates Dihydrotestosterone-Induced Nucleus Accumbens Structural Plasticity, but Not Conditioned Reward.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Article
- Androgen Regulation of the Mesocorticolimbic System and Executive Function.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2018Review
- Sex Differences in Medium Spiny Neuron Excitability and Glutamatergic Synaptic Input: Heterogeneity Across Striatal Regions and Evidence for Estradiol-Dependent Sexual Differentiation.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2018Review
- Defining the Construct of Synthetic Androgen Intoxication: An Application of General Brain Arousal.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- Valid statistical approaches for analyzing sholl data: Mixed effects versus simple linear models.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) modify cognitive processes such as decision making and behavioral flexibility. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these AAS-induced cognitive changes remain poorly understood. The mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system, particularly the nucleus accumbens (Acb), is important for reward, motivated behavior, and higher cognitive processes such as decision making. Therefore, AAS-induced plasticity in the DA system is a potential structural substrate for the observed cognitive alterations. High doses of testosterone (the most commonly-used AAS) increase dendritic spine density in limbic regions including the amygdala and hippocampus. However, effects on Acb are unknown. This was the focus of the present study. Adolescent male Long-Evans rats were treated chronically for 8weeks with high-dose testosterone (7.5mg/kg in water with 13% cyclodextrin) or vehicle sc. Brains were stained by Golgi-Cox to analyze neuronal morphology in medium spiny neurons of the shell region of Acb (AcbSh). Eightweeks of testosterone treatment significantly decreased spine density in AcbSh compared to brains of vehicle-treated rats (F1,14=5.455, p<0.05). Testosterone did not significantly affect total spine number, dendritic length, or arborization measured by Sholl analysis. These results show that AAS alter neuronal morphology in AcbSh by decreasing spine density throughout the dendritic tree, and provides a potential mechanism for AAS to modify cognition and decision-making behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.