• Nadia Justel, Eliana Ruetti, Alba E Mustaca, and Mauricio R Papini.
• Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas, CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. nadiajustel@gmail.com
• Physiol. Behav. 2012 Feb 28; 105 (4): 933-7.

AbstractPrevious research indicated that the suppression of consummatory behavior that follows incentive downshift in male rats is attenuated by testosterone (T) administration during training. The present experiments were designed to assess the role of pretraining T administration on two incentive contrast situations in consummatory behavior: successive negative contrast (cSNC) and anticipatory negative contrast (cANC). In cSNC (Experiment 1), a downshift from 32% to 4% sucrose leads to behavioral suppression relative to an unshifted, 4% sucrose condition (the cSNC effect). Pretraining T administration enhanced consummatory behavior directed at 4% sucrose, without affecting behavior directed at 32% sucrose. This effect obscured a reduction in the cSNC effect by the T treatment that was only detected when a proportional measure of behavior was used. In cANC (Experiment 2), groups received access to two bottles per day separated by a short midtrial interval. Consumption of 4% sucrose is suppressed when the second bottle offers 32% sucrose, relative to 4% sucrose (the cANC effect). Pretraining T did not affect the cANC effect, known to be insensitive to treatment with anxiolytics. These results suggest an anxiolytic-like effect of testosterone in adjustment to incentive downshifts.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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