Abstracts of Presentations of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of The American Society of Primatologists

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 95 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(2000)51:1+<61::aid-ajp5>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

Oral contraceptives (OC's) are a widely used and efficacious form of birth control. They have well-documented beneficial and detrimental effects in most systems including the central nervous system. Furthermore, a history of sex steroid exposure is associated with long term changes in the reproductive and nervous systems. D1 receptor binding was investigated in the striatum of cynomolgus monkeys, Macaca fascicularis, (n=10) which were exposed to OC for 2 years, and demonstrated increased aggression, decreased central serotonergic function, and altered central dopaminergic function one year following the cessation of long-term OC treatment. Specific binding of 3[H] SCH23390 was seen in both OC treated and control tissue. Increased density was seen in the striatum with the greatest density in the medial caudate and less dense binding in the nucleus accumbens. Mixed models ANOVA (2 sections x 6 areas x 2 groups) revealed a significant effect of prior OC treatment (p<0.05). A history of OC use decreased D1 receptor binding in the striatum. Understanding the mechanisms by which OC's exert their effects will result in the development of more selective OC formulations that may be tolerated by more women and further our understanding of the role of sex hormones in altering neurotransmission and mediating cognition and affect.