ABSTRACT Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are chemical derivates of androstane and strane parental forms of natural occurring steroids, which were initially designed to be used for medical purposes. Nevertheless, an alarming increment of their abuse has been described in the last decades, together with several psychological and physical side effects. Those most frequently reported in literature are related to increases in irritability and aggression or violence. Although studies analysing the behavioural and physiological effects of AAS in animals have been published, the majority of them have been carried out in castrated animals. Nevertheless, it seems more convenient to use gonadally intact animals as experimental subjects, a strategy which mimics what occurs in human abusers. In a number of different studies we have analysed the effects of AAS on behaviour in intact male mice, concretely on agonistic behaviour, locomotor activity, and rewarding effects and dependence. Our experiments have demonstrated that several variables such as doses, model of inducing aggression, type of AAS, type of standard opponent, duration of treatment, and individual differences in the basal aggressiveness affects aggressive behaviour and different physiological parameters, but not locomotor activity. In addition, AAS administration also produces rewarding properties in rodents, which emphasizes the role of these substances on dependence.
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