The neuroendocrine integration of environmental information, the regulation and action of testosterone and the challenge hypothesis.

The neuroendocrine integration of environmental information, the regulation and action of testosterone and the challenge hypothesis. Horm Behav. 2019 Aug 20;:104574 Authors: Ball GF, Balthazart J Abstract The authors of the original challenge hypothesis proposed influential hypotheses concerning the relationship between testosterone concentrations in the blood and aggressive social behaviors. Many of the key observations were made in avian species studied in the wild and in captivity. In this review we evaluate some remaining questions about the ideas discussed in the challenge hypothesis from a neuroendocrine perspective. For example, a rise in testosterone in response to a social aggressive stimulus might involve complex social information being processed by the brain and an appropriate signal sent to the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuronal system. Alternatively, social stimuli could more directly stimulate the testis and testosterone release via sympathetic innervation of the testis though such pathways have not been linked to a response to social behaviors. The social behavior decision network in the brain seems to play a key role in the regulation of aggressive behavior but how sensory information concerning aggressive behaviors is interpreted appropriately, processed by the social decision network and sent to the GnRH system is still not well understood. There are continuing questions about the extensive species var...
Source: Hormones and Behavior - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Horm Behav Source Type: research