Date of Award
Spring 5-5-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Neuroscience Institute
First Advisor
Elliot Albers, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Joseph Terranova, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Jacob English
Abstract
Syrian hamsters are a useful model for offensive aggression because males and females spontaneously engage in agonistic bouts. In hamsters, there is a large sex difference on aggression in the serotonin (5-HT) pathways. Male aggression is inhibited and female aggression increases with injections of a 5-HT agonist into the anterior hypothalamus (AH), but little is known if similar effects are seen in adult hamsters with repeated systemic administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), fluoxetine (FLX), which is one of the few approved pharmacological treatments for mood disorders in children and adolescents. The goal of this study is to determine if repeated intraperitoneal injections of FLX over 30 days in adolescent male and female hamsters has an effect on offensive aggression similar to site specific alterations of the 5-HT system in the AH. Our data suggest that systemic administration of FLX as adolescents over 30 days does not affect offensive aggression in males or females as adults.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/10253467
Recommended Citation
Emerson, Alan, "Effects of Repeated Systemic Administration of Fluoxetine on Offensive Aggresion in Syrian Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2017.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/10253467