Adolescence is a developmental period that is associated with physical, cognitive, and affective maturation and a time when sex biases in multiple psychiatric diseases emerge. While puberty onset marks the initiation of adolescence, it is unclear whether the pubertal rise in gonadal hormones generates sex differences in approach-avoidance behaviors that may impact psychiatric vulnerability. To examine the influence of pubertal development on adult behavior, we removed the gonads or performed sham surgery in male and female mice just prior to puberty onset and assessed performance in an odor-guided foraging task and anxiety-related behaviors in adulthood. We observed no significant sex differences in foraging or anxiety-related behaviors between intact adult male and female mice but found significant differences between adult male and female mice that had been gonadectomized (GDX) prior to puberty onset. GDX males failed to acquire the odor-guided foraging task, showed reduced locomotion, and exhibited increased anxiety-like behavior, while GDX females showed the opposite pattern of behavior. These data suggest that puberty may minimize rather than drive differences in approach-avoidance phenotypes in male and female mice.

中文翻译：

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青春期前的性腺切除术揭示了成年小鼠在回避行为中的性别差异。

青春期是与身体，认知和情感成熟相关的发育时期，也是多种精神病患者出现性别偏见的时期。虽然青春期开始标志着青春期的开始，但尚不清楚青春期性腺激素的升高是否会在避免方法的行为中产生性别差异，从而可能影响精神病的脆弱性。为了检查青春期发育对成年行为的影响，我们在青春期开始之前就在雄性和雌性小鼠中移除了性腺或进行了假手术，并评估了气味引导的觅食任务和成年后与焦虑相关的行为。我们观察到完整的成年雄性和雌性小鼠之间在觅食或焦虑相关行为方面没有明显的性别差异，但是发现在青春期开始之前进行过性腺切除术（GDX）的成年雄性和雌性小鼠之间没有显着差异。GDX雄性未能完成气味引导的觅食任务，运动减少，并且表现出类似焦虑的行为，而GDX雌性则表现出相反的行为模式。这些数据表明，青春期可以最大程度地减少而不是驱动雄性和雌性小鼠避免接触表型的差异。