Research Paper|Volume 2, Issue 11|pp 854—866

Aging of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in nonhuman primates with depression-like and aggressive behavior

Nadezhda D. Goncharova¹, Victor Y. Marenin, Tamara E. Oganyan

¹Laboratory of Endocrinology, Research Institute of Medical Primatology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Sochi, Adler, Veseloye 1, 354376, Russian Federation

Received: September 24, 2010Accepted: November 6, 2010Published: August 11, 2010

Copyright: © 2010 Goncharova et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

We have investigated aging of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in female rhesus monkeys that differ in adaptive behavior. Plasma cortisol (F) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) concentrations under basal conditions and under acute psycho-emotional stress were evaluated in blood plasma of young (6-8 years) and old (20-27 years) female rhesus monkeys with various types of adaptive behavior (aggressive, depression-like, and average). We have found that the age-related changes in the HPA axis of monkeys with depression-like behavior were accompanied by the maximal absolute and relative hypercortisolemia under both basal conditions and stress. Moreover, young aggressive monkeys, in comparison with young monkeys of other behavior groups, demonstrated the highest plasma levels of DHEA-S and the lowest molar ratios between F and DHEA-S. Thus, age-related dysfunctions of the HPA axis are associated with adaptive behavior of animals.