“Sexual Hormones and Frustration”.

JUSTEL, N; RUETTI, E; BENTOSELA, M.; MUSTACA, A

Cordoba

Taller; I Reunión Conjunta de Neurociencias. Taller Argentino de Neurociencias, Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2009

Frustration is defined as an emotional state caused by the decrease in or omission of the quantity or quality of an appetitive reinforcer in the presence of an expectative of reward or reinforcers of greater magnitude. One procedure used to induce frustration is consummatory extinction, in which the animals at first receive access to a sucrose solution, and later receive no reinforcer and instead, have access only to an empty sipper tube. Testosterone (T) causes a reduction in the anxiety of male rodents, whether released in an endogenous way or administered by an exogenous method. Furthermore, the depletion of the gonadal axis has opposite effects to those found with the administration of T. To date, no studies have been found that investigate the effect of this sexual hormone in the processes of frustration, making this study the first antecedent on the effect of sexual hormones on the omission of an appetitive reinforcer. The results suggest that an increase of T (through repeated administration) as well as a decrease of the same (through castration) would modulate the frustration response of animals when faced with the loss of an expected reinforcer. Keywords: Testosterone, frustration, extinction, castration, rats.