Neonatal amygdala lesions advance pubertal timing in female rhesus macaques
Section snippets
Subjects
Subjects were female rhesus macaques (N = 16; born March–June) living with their mothers and siblings in large, species-typical social groups at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (YNPRC) Field Station (Lawrenceville, GA). Subjects were selected from high-, middle-, and low-ranking matrilines, excluding the highest- and lowest-ranking matrilines, so that females had comparable social contexts, with all females having matrilines ranked above and below their matriline. Social groups
Results
Neither age at menarche (t(7) = 1.33, p = .224) nor age at first ovulation (t(7) = 0.73, p = .487) differed between surgical (Neo-C) and behavioral sham (Neo-BC) control females and these two groups were combined as one control group (Neo-C) for all analyses.
Discussion
Age at menarche typically occurs at 2.5 years of age in rhesus macaques (Resko et al., 1982, Wilson et al., 1988). Neonatal amygdalectomy resulted in menarche in all Neo-A females at approximately 1.5 years of age, one year earlier than menarche is typically observed. The proportion of females reaching first ovulation each season did not differ between amygdala-lesioned and control females, possibly because, opposite to our prediction, the variation in age at first ovulation was greater in
Conclusion
The current study demonstrates the amygdala can influence the HPG axis and that damage to the amygdala early in life can result in earlier pubertal onset and reproductive maturity.
Role of the funding sources
This project was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH050268). The Yerkes National Primate Research Center is supported by The National Center for Research Resources (P51 RR00165; YNPRC Base grant) and is currently supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (OD P51OD11132). The funding sources were not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, or writing of the manuscript. The decision to submit the article for publication was at the discretion of
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Acknowledgements
The YNPRC is fully accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International. The authors thank Trina Villarreal, Amy Henry, Sara Dicker, Rebecca Roberts, M.A, Daniela Sanchez, M.A., Maurand Cappelletti, M.A., Casie Lyons, and Patrick MacFarland for their assistance with data collection, the Bachevalier lab for their work in completing the amygdala lesion surgeries and estimation of the lesion extent, and Dr. Mark Wilson and Dr. Mar Sanchez for
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