The goal of the present study was to examine how social subordination stress and 5HTT polymorphisms affect the development of brain serotonin (5HT) systems during the pubertal transition in female rhesus monkeys. We also examined associations with developmental changes in emotional reactivity in response to a standardized behavioral test, the Human Intruder (HI). Our findings provide the first longitudinal evidence of developmental increases in 5HT1A receptor and 5HTT binding in the brain of female primates from pre- to peripuberty. The increase in 5HT1A BPND in these socially housed female rhesus monkeys is a robust finding, occurring across all groups, regardless of social status or 5HTT genotype, and occurring in left and right hemispheres of all prefrontal regions studied, as well as amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and raphe nuclei. 5HTT BPND also showed an increase with age in raphe, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These changes in brain 5HT systems take place as females establish more adult-like patterns of social behavior, as well as during the HI paradigm. Indeed, the main developmental changes in behavior during the HI (increase in freezing and decrease in submission/appeasement) were related to neurodevelopmental increases in 5HT1A receptors and 5HTT, because the associations between these behaviors and 5HT endpoints emerge at peripuberty. We detected an effect of social status on 5HT1A BPND in the hypothalamus and on 5HTT BPND in the orbitofrontal cortex, with subordinates showing higher BPND than dominants in both cases during the pubertal transition. No main effects of 5HTT genotype were observed for 5HT1A or 5HTT BPND. Our findings indicate that adolescence in female rhesus monkeys is a period of central 5HT reorganization, partly influenced by exposure to the social stress of subordination, that likely functions to integrate adrenal and gonadal systems and shape the behavioral response to emotionally challenging social situations.

Social subordination in female macaques represents a well-described model of chronic psychosocial stress. Additionally, a length polymorphism (5HTTLPR) in the regulatory region of the serotonin (5HT) transporter (5HTT) gene (SLC6A4) is present in rhesus macaques, which has been linked to adverse outcomes similar to what has been described in humans with an analogous 5HTTLPR polymorphism. The present study determined the effects of social status and the 5HTTLPR genotype on 5HT1A receptor binding potential (5HT1A BPND) in brain regions implicated in emotional regulation and stress reactivity in ovariectomised female monkeys, and then assessed how these effects were altered by 17β-oestradiol (E2) treatment. Areas analyzed included the prefrontal cortex [anterior cingulate (ACC); medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex], amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus and raphe nucleui. Positron emission tomography (PET) using p-[18F]MPPF was performed to determine the levels of 5HT1A BPND under a non-E2 and a 3-wk E2 treatment condition. The short variant (s-variant) 5HTTLPR genotype produced a significant reduction in 5HT1A BPND in the mPFC regardless of social status, and subordinate s-variant females showed a reduction in 5HT1A BPND within the ACC. Both these effects of 5HTTLPR were unaffected by E2. Additionally, E2 reduced 5HT1A BPND in the dorsal raphe of all females irrespective of psychosocial stress or 5HTTLPR genotype. Hippocampal 5HT1A BPND was attenuated in subordinate females regardless of 5HTTLPR genotype during the non-E2 condition, an effect that was normalised with E2. Similarly, 5HT1A BPND in the hypothalamus was significantly lower in subordinate females regardless of 5HTTLPR genotype, an effect reversed with E2. Together, the data indicate that the effect of E2 on modulation of central 5HT1A BPND may only occur in brain regions that show no 5HTTLPR genotype-linked control of 5HT1A binding.

Persistent exposure to environmental stressors causes dysregulation of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) axis and alters GABAA receptor (GABAAR) levels throughout the brain. Social subordination in socially housed female rhesus results in distinctive stress-related physiological and behavioral phenotypes that are dependent on the ovarian hormone estradiol (E2). In the present study, we utilized ovariectomized adult female rhesus monkeys undergoing hormone replacement with E2 to test the hypothesis that the chronic psychosocial stress of subordination alters GABAAR binding potential (GABAAR BPND) in limbic regions implicated in emotional processing including the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe (amygdala and hippocampus), and hypothalamus. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that peripheral administration of a corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor (CRHR) antagonist (astressin B) would reverse the alterations in GABAAR binding within these regions in subordinate females. After subjects received astressin B or saline for three consecutive days, GABAAR BPND was determined by positron emission tomography (PET) using 18F-flumazenil as a radioligand. T1-weighted structural MRI scans were also acquired for PET scan co-registration, in order to perform a region of interest analysis using the pons as a reference region. Compared to socially dominant females, subordinate females exhibited increased GABAAR BPND in the prefrontal cortex but not in the temporal lobe or the hypothalamus. Administration of astressin B eliminated the status difference in GABAAR BPND in the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that the chronic stressor of social subordination modulates GABAergic tone via effects on CRH and the LHPA axis, at least in prefrontal regions.

No abstract